An encephalomyelitis-specific locus on chromosome 16 in mouse controls disease development and expression of
Therese Lindvall1, Kutty Selva Nandakumar, Kimia Yousefi
1Department of Experimental Medical Science, Unit for Medical Inflammation Research, BMC I11, Lund University, S-22184 Lund, Sweden.
Abstract:
A locus on mouse chromosome 16 was found to control experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in studies using congenic mice. Genes within the congenic region control encephalomyelitis but not arthritis, indicating the presence of genes in this region involved in central nervous system (CNS) specific mechanisms. Flow cytometry analyses of expression of two candidate genes within the linked locus, Cd200 and Btla, demonstrated a significantly lower expression of CD200 on CD4+ T cells and higher expression of BTLA on B cells from the congenic mice. These results suggest that genes within this mouse chromosome 16 locus specifically control EAE development possibly through immune-regulatory cell-surface molecules.
