Allergy
Introduction
The Allergy screen of the German Mouse Clinic (GMC) identifies allergy or autoimmune-prone mutants to establish mouse models for autoimmune, allergy or skin diseases with defined genotypes and to develop new therapeutic and diagnostic strategies against such diseases.
Primary Screen
- Total Immunoglobulin plasma Isotype IgE
- TEWL (TransEpidermal Water Loss )
Indicator of the skin's barrier function - Body Surface Temperature
Overall indicator marker of animal health (changes in temperature correlate with severity of disease in many murine models)
Secondary Screen
- Total Immunoglobulin plasma Isotype
IgA, IgM, IgG1, IgG2a, IgG2b, IgG3 and IgE - OVA specific Immunoglobulin plasma isotypes
IgG and IgE - Multiplex measurement of proinflammatory cytokines
IFN-γ, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, KC/GRO, TNF-α - Immnunophenotyping of Leukocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) by flow cytometry
- Inflammation scoring from lung by histology staining
- Lymphocyte In vitro proliferation assays
- in vitro Immunoglobulin class switch test
T and B cell lymphocyte functional assays
Ideally, 6 mutant and 6 wild-type control spleens are tested (cell differentiation, Proliferation, cytokine production between other is scoring under a high-throughput in vitro assay).
Airway inflammation model
Ideally, 12 mutant and 12 wild-type control mice are tested in high-throughput screens that include a model of allergic sensitization and aerosol challenge with different optional allergens. Phenotype analyses are based on the rapid quantification of immunoglobulins IgA, IgM, IgG1, IgG2a, IgG2b, IgG3 and IgE from plasma by MSD technology, and of inflammatory cells from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) by multi-color flow-cytometry (eosinophils, alveolar macrophages, neutrophils, T, B and NK cells). In addition, immune phenotyping of BAL lymphocytes for the evaluation of allergen-specific T cell responses and a single-step multiplexed quantification of cytokines from BAL fluid are performed.
Models in development stage:
- Mouse models of autoimmune diseases;
- Mouse models of systemic anaphylaxis;
- Mouse models of skin disease