Mechanisms of genetically determined immune dysfunction

Spontaneous autoimmunity in New Zealand mice and the absence of a thymus in the hairless mutant nude mice were the first examples of genetically determined immunologic dysfunction to be discovered in mice. Now several others are known, involving different mutations such as beige (bg), X-linked immunodeficiency (xid), lymphoproliferativn (lpr), generalized lymphoproliferative disease (gld), lipopolysaccharide responsiveness(Lps), severe combined immunodeficiency (scid), motheaten (me), and the Y-linked autoimmune accelerator gene (Yaa) of BXSB mice. These have enhanced our understanding of immune deficiency autoimmunity, and the relationship between the two, as well as (in some instances) the development of lymphoma.