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Establishment and Characterization of RAG‐2 Deficient Non‐Obese Diabetic Mice
Author(s) -
SÖDERSTRÖM I.,
BERGMAN M.L.,
COLUCCI F.,
LEJON K.,
BERGQVIST I.,
HOLMBERG D.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-3083.1996.d01-70.x
Subject(s) - nod , insulitis , nod mice , spleen , biology , immunology , mutant , pathogenesis , diabetes mellitus , gene , endocrinology , genetics
The authors have established a new immunodeficient mouse strain on the genetic background of the diabetes prone non‐obese diabetic (NOD) mouse. A deletion mutant of the RAG‐2 gene was back crossed 10 generations onto the NOD/Bom strain background. The homozygous NOD rag−2−/− mice lack functionally mature B and T lymphocytes and do not develop insulitis or diabetes throughout life. In contrast, heterozygous NOD rag−2+/− develop both insulitis and diabetes with an incidence similar to the wild type NOD mice. In transfer experiments, spleen cells from diabetic NOD donors were found to transfer disease to NOD rag−2−/− recipients similar to what has been previously observed in transfer to irradiated NOD recipients or to immunodeficient NOD‐scid/scid mice. While resembling the recently established NOD‐scid/scid mice in many respects, the NOD rag−2−/− mice represents an advantageous model for reconstitution of the pathogenesis of murine IDDM as it does not produce any endogenous, mature T or B lymphocytes.