Mice lacking all conventional MHC class II genes
- 31 August 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Vol. 96 (18) , 10338-10343
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.96.18.10338
Abstract
MHC class II (MHC-II) molecules play a central role in the selection of the T cell repertoire, in the establishment and regulation of the adaptive immune response, and in autoimmune deviation. We have generated knockout mice lacking all four of the classical murine MHC-II genes (MHCIIΔ/Δ mice), via a large (80-kilobase) deletion of the entire class II region that was engineered by homologous recombination and Cre recombinase-mediated excision. These mice feature immune system perturbations like those of Aα and Aβ knockout animals, notably a dearth of CD4+ lymphocytes in the thymus and spleen. No new anatomical or physiological abnormalities were observed in MHCIIΔ/Δ mice. Because these animals are devoid of all classical MHC-II chains, even unpaired chains, they make excellent recipients for MHC-II transgenes from other species, avoiding the problem of interspecies cross-pairing of MHC-II chains. Therefore, they should be invaluable for engineering “humanized” mouse models of human MHC-II-associated autoimmune disorders.Keywords
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