Male mice that are hemizygous for the Clone-1 TCR (also called Clone 1 Thy1.1 TCR or Cl.1 TCR) transgene are viable, fertile, and normal in size. Females are very weak and have low fecundity. The donating investigator reports that all transgenic mice are prone to tumor development by 5-6 months of age. The transgene encodes a rearranged low avidity T cell receptor that recognizes an influenza virus hemagglutinin epitope (HA_518-526) restricted by MHC class I H-2K^d. The phenotype below is as defined by the B10.D2 background (see Stock No. 005895). Flow cytometric analysis shows appropriate skewing towards the CD8⁺ T cell compartment in thymocytes and peripheral lymphocytes. CD8⁺ T cells can be induced to exhibit both effector function and antitumor activity. This mouse is further modified with the Thy1^a allele, rather than the alternate allele present in C57BL/10, DBA/2, and BALB/c mice. Thus, cell populations derived from these transgenic mice can be distinguished from syngeneic host and other mice with the alternate allele via flow cytometry. These Clone-1 TCR (also called Clone 1 Thy1.1 TCR or Cl.1 TCR) transgenic mice were designed to optimize conditions for tumor eradication by low avidity tumor-specific T cells and may also be useful in general studies of T cell avidity, tolerance, positive/negative selection, and activation.

Of note, Clone-1 TCR mice are also available on a C57BL/10 congenic background (see Stock No. 005895).

In an attempt to offer alleles on well-characterized or multiplegenetic backgrounds, alleles are frequently moved to a genetic background different from that on which an allele was first characterized. It should be noted that the phenotype could vary from that originally described. We will modify the strain description if necessary as published results become available.