Patent ID: 7931902
Filing Date: 2011-04-26
Classification: A01K,A61P,C12N

Abstract:
1. A method of identifying an agent that modulates a phenotype associated with a disruption of a gene which encodes for a polypeptide, the method comprising: (a) providing a non-human transgenic animal whose genome comprises a disruption of a gene which is an ortholog of a human gene that encodes for the polypeptide (SEQ ID NO:68) and which, compared with gender matched wild-type littermates, exhibits a phenotype associated with said gene disruption, said phenotype comprising at least one of the following physiological characteristics: increased percentage of CD4 cells in peripheral blood, increased TCRbeta+ in thymus, increased CD11b+CD11c+ in lymph nodes, increased natural killer cells in lymph nodes, increased percentage of CD 117+ cells in peritoneal lavage, decreased IgG2a mean serum levels and increased IgA mean serum levels; (b) measuring a physiological characteristic of the non-human transgenic animal of (a); (c) comparing the measured physiological characteristic of (b) with that of a gender matched wild-type animal, wherein the physiological characteristic of the non-human transgenic animal that differs from the physiological characteristic of the wild-type animal is identified as a phenotype resulting from the gene disruption in the non-human transgenic animal; (d) administering a test agent to the non-human transgenic animal of (a); and (e) determining whether the test agent modulates the identified phenotype associated with gene disruption in the non-human transgenic animal.