title: Strain differences in allele and expression levels of CD72 on B-lymphocytes from NOD, AKR, NON and C57BL/6 mice.
abstract: The B-lymphocyte marker CD72 has multiple alleles and serves crucial and nonredundant roles in B-cell development and activation. B-lymphocytes play an important role in development of autoimmune diabetes in NOD mice, therefore we examined the patterns of expression of CD72 and its alloantigens on splenic lymphocytes from 4-week-old NOD/LtJ mice. Comparisons of CD72 expression were made between NOD mice and three non-diabetic strains, NON/LtJ mice, C57BL/6J and AKR/J. Use of allele-specific monoclonal antibodies revealed that the previously uncharacterized NON strain expresses either the a or d allele, whereas NOD and AKR mice were confirmed to express the rare c allele. Flow cytometric analysis revealed differential expression between the strains. Whereas NON, C57BL/6 and AKR mice expressed CD72 on 98, 94 and 92% of their B-lymphocytes (CD19+ cells), the NOD mice only expressed this regulatory marker on 78% of their B-lymphocytes. Furthermore, CD72 expression levels on CD72 positive cells were lower in NOD mice than in other three non-diabetic strains. The presence of the CD72c allele, as well as its low level of expression in NOD mice at 4 weeks of age, may be associated with B-lymphocyte hyper-responsiveness and resistance to activation-induced cell death.
authors.affiliation: Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, University of Tennessee-Health Sciences Center (UTHSC), and Research Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 151, 1030 Jefferson Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104, USA.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jacob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marler
authors.forename: Nataliya I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Lenchik
authors.forename: Ivan C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Gerling
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D018941:Antigens, CD19 / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D000944:Antigens, Differentiation, B-Lymphocyte / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D051379:Mice; D008806:Mice, Inbred AKR; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D016688:Mice, Inbred NOD
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D018941:Antigens, CD19; D000944:Antigens, Differentiation, B-Lymphocyte; C513972:CD72 antigen, mouse