Animal Models of T‐cell Lymphoma

Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) are a heterogeneous group of blood cancers with varying pathological and clinical features. In this chapter the authors describe several mouse lines established for angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL), anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL), adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) and enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma (EATL). Several animal models have been established to assess AITL pathogenesis. Microscopically, ALCL is commonly marked by large cells with abundant cytoplasm and eccentric, lobulated nuclei. ATLL is caused by persistent infection of the human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV1). ATLL develops only a small part of HTLV1 carriers after an incubation period of about 60years from HTLV1 infection. The advent of targeted genetic manipulation using novel technologies may eventually resolve and refine the remaining differences making mouse the ultimate model organism of choice to study human ailments.