Lack of B Cell Leakiness in BALB/cA-nu, scid Double Mutant Mice

• Published in: Experimental Animals Vol. 50; no. 1; pp. 67 - 72
• Main Authors: HIOKI, Kyoji, KURAMOCHI, Takashi, ENDOH, Sachio, TERADA, Ehji, UEYAMA, Yoshito, ITO, Mamoru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Japanese Association for Laboratory Animal Science 2001
• Subjects: Animals; B-Lymphocytes - immunology; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Flow Cytometry; Immunoglobulins - blood; Interferon-gamma - genetics; Interleukin-2 - genetics; Interleukin-4 - genetics; Interleukin-6 - genetics; leakiness; Longevity; Lymphocyte Count; Lymphoma; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Nude; Mice, SCID; nude; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; RNA, Messenger - analysis; scid mice; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Thymus Neoplasms
• ISSN: 1341-1357; 1881-7122
• DOI: 10.1538/expanim.50.67

BALB/cA mice homozygous for both nu and scid mutations (BALB/cA-nu/nu, scid/scid) were developed by mating between BALB/cA-scid and BALB/cA-nu. These mice have greater longevity than C.B-17-scid because no thymic lymphoma occurs in them unlike in the latter. C.B-17-scid is known to show the leaky phenomenon in which a few clones of functional T and B cells develop in aged C.B-17-scid. Unexpectedly, the leaky B cells and T cells were absent or suppressed in BALB/cA-nu, scid mice when cytokine expressions were determined by RT-PCR, lymphocyte phenotypes by flow cytometry and serum immunoglobulin levels by ELISA. These results indicate that B cell leakiness may be induced by leaked T cells. BALB/cA-nu, scid mice may be useful as a recipient in allo- and xeno-transplantation experiments because of the absence of both thymic lymphomas and leakiness, in addition to lack of hair.