A Single DH Gene Segment Is Sufficient for the Establishment of an Asthma Phenotype in a Murine Model of Allergic Airway Inflammation

摘要

BackgroundWe have previously shown that the allergic sensitization to ovalbumin does not represent a superantigen-like immune response. In gene-targeted mice (ΔD-iD) with a single modified Diversity gene segment (DH) of the immunoglobulin heavy chain, enriched for charged amino acids, the asthma phenotype in a murine model was markedly alleviated compared to wild-type animals. Objective: We now sought to determine whether the confinement to a single DH gene segment alone leads to a reduced allergic phenotype.