IMMUNODEFICIENT MOUSE MODELS: CHARACTERISTICS AND APPLICATIONS

Abstract

The house mouse (Mus musculus) is the most common mammalian species used in scientific research. This is
because the mouse and human are genetically similar and the mouse genome is easy to manipulate. The development of immunodeficient mice has provided a valuable tool for research. Nature has produced various mutations affecting the immune system of mice. Some of the most commonly used strains carrying spontaneous mutations are nude, SCID, beige, XID. Nevertheless, the field of immunodeficient mice models has grown immensely over the past two decades. This growth is in part due to the advances in genetic engineering. Many genetically modified strains of immunocompromised mice are now available for the study of immunobiology, oncology and transplantology. The purpose of this paper is to describe some of the available strains of mice with immune system defects including their genetics, phenotypic characteristics and their application in scientific research.