B6.129S7-Itgax^tm1Bll/J

Stock number: 040990
Product name: CD11c^-
Research areas: Cardiovascular Research, Cell Biology Research, Developmental Biology Research

Description

CD11c^-/- mice have a neo cassette replacing exons 1-3 of Itgax, abolishing endogenous gene expression. These mice may be useful for studying the functional role of CD11c⁺ monocytes or dendritic cells.

Detailed description

CD11c^-/- mice have a neo cassette replacing exons 1-3 of integrin alpha X (Itgax), abolishing endogenous gene expression. Itgax encodes CD11c, a member of the β2 integrin family, found on dendritic cells (DCs) and subsets of monocytes and macrophages in mice where it mediates cell-cell interaction during inflammatory responses. It is especially important in monocyte adhesion and chemotaxis. CD11C levels have been shown to be increased on blood monocytes during hyperlipidemia, where it has been shown to play an important role in monocyte recruitment and atherosclerosis development in an apoE^-/- mouse model of hypercholesterolemia (Stock No. 002052).

Homozygous CD11c^-/- mice are viable and fertile. They exhibit decreased firm arrest of mouse monocytes on vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 and E-selectin in a shear flow assay, reduced monocyte/macrophage accumulation in atherosclerotic lesions, and decreased atherosclerosis development in apoE^-/- mice on a high-fat diet.

Development

The CD11c^- targeting vector was designed to replace exons 1-3 of the integrin alpha X (Itgax) gene with a neomycin resistance (neo) cassette. The construct was electroporated into 129S7/SvEvBrd-Hprt1^b-m2-derived AB2.1 embryonic stem (ES) cells. Correctly targeted ES cells were injected into C57BL/6 blastocysts, and the resulting chimeric males were bred to C57BL/6 females. Subsequently, CD11c^- mice were backcrossed to C57BL/6NHsd mice for at least 10 generations before being crossed to C57BL/6J mice by the donating laboratory. Upon arrival at The Jackson Laboratory, sperm was cryopreserved. To establish our live colony, an aliquot of frozen sperm was used to fertilize C57BL/6J oocytes (Stock No. 000664).

Additional note: If cryorecovering from the 2025 frozen sperm using C57BL/6J inbred oocytes, the resulting live mice may be segregating for the C57BL/6J-derived wildtype Dock2⁺ vs. C57BL/6NHsd-derived Dock2^Hsd [known to result in reduced Dock2 transcript expression in bone marrow cells and splenocytes].

Allele

Symbol: Itgax^tm1Bll
Name: targeted mutation 1, Christie M Ballantyne
MGI accession ID: MGI:3579560
Generation method: Targeted
Attributes: Null/Knockout
Synonyms: Cd11c^-; CR4^-
Marker symbol: Itgax
Marker name: integrin alpha X
Marker synonyms: CD11C; CD11C (p150) alpha polypeptide; CR4; RGD1561123; SLEB6
Chromosome: 7
Strain of origin: 129S7/SvEvBrd-Hprt1^b-m2
Molecular note: Exons 1 through 3 were replaced with a neo cassette.