Section on Immunology and Immunogenetics, Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 May 18;107(20):9305-10. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1004492107. Epub 2010 May 3.
The nonobese diabetic (NOD) mouse strain has a genetic deficiency in natural killer (NK) cells. This defect underlies this strain's utility in several experimental settings; in particular, it promotes engraftment of human tissue in NOD hosts during the generation of "humanized" mouse models. We have mapped the major NK-cell defect in the NOD vs. C57BL/6 (B6) strain to an inadequately expressed Il15 allele. Treatment of NOD mice with a reagent that specifically enhances interleukin (IL)-15 bioavailability normalized NK-cell numbers and activity in the absence of nonspecific stimulation. These findings raise the possibility of exploiting reagents that impact the IL-15 receptor pathway to facilitate construction of humanized mouse models on non-NOD genetic backgrounds.
非肥胖型糖尿病(NOD)小鼠品系存在自然杀伤(NK)细胞的遗传缺陷。这种缺陷是该品系在几种实验环境下具有应用价值的基础;特别是,在生成“人源化”小鼠模型时,它促进了人类组织在 NOD 宿主中的移植。我们已经将 NOD 与 C57BL/6(B6)品系相比的主要 NK 细胞缺陷映射到一个表达不足的 Il15 等位基因上。用一种专门增强白细胞介素(IL)-15 生物利用度的试剂处理 NOD 小鼠,可在没有非特异性刺激的情况下使 NK 细胞数量和活性正常化。这些发现提出了利用影响 IL-15 受体途径的试剂来促进在非 NOD 遗传背景上构建人源化小鼠模型的可能性。