Homozygous mice are viable and fertile and show delayed primary B or T cell immune responses. Lymph nodes from homozygous mice are devoid of naive T cells and dendritic cells (DCs), but the T cell populations in the blood, the red pulp of the spleen, and in the bone marrow are greatly expanded. Secondary lymph organs exhibit morphological abnormalities, and adoptive transfer experiments demonstrate impaired B- and T-cell migration. In a model of acute allogeneic tumor rejection, homozygous mice fail to reject subcutaneously injected MHC class I mismatched tumor cells, and cytotoxic activity of allospecific T cells is severely compromised. These mutant mice (along with CXCR5-deficient mice - Stock No. 006659) - may be useful in immunological studies of chemokine receptors, including T- and B-cell function in primary and adaptive immune responses, entry of lymphocytes and dendritic cells into secondary lymphoid organs (and their homing to T- and B-cell zones therein), alloimmune responses, and the development of transplant rejection.
In an attempt to offer alleles on well-characterized or multiple genetic 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.
