Abstract 670: The Jackson Laboratory Repository: Resource for mouse models of human cancer
Authors: Boswell Deborah , Rockwood Steve , Sasner Mike ,   The JAX Repository Team
Published: July 2016

The mouse is a versatile model organism whose value has been augmented by recent biotechnological innovations in genome editing. While standard inbred and spontaneous mouse strains are still widely utilized, developments in genetic engineering technologies have significantly broadened the strategies available to researchers to generate specific disease models with preclinical applications. The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) has been serving the scientific community as a resource for mouse strains relevant to human disease for more than seven decades. The JAX Repository consists of over 8,000 mouse strains, many with applications for modeling human cancer. A wide selection of models are now available that have applications as hosts for cancer xenograft modeling. Strains have become increasingly specialized for specific purposes: optimized support of human and murine hematopoietic cell engraftment, reduced xenogeneic graft-versus-host disease response, engraftment of human hematopoietic stem cells without irradiation, and immunological tolerance to firefly luciferase and enhanced green fluorescent protein. Mouse strains that recapitulate aspects of specific diseases, such as Chordoma, are also available. In response to the promising potential of CRISPR/cas9 technology, a variety of cas9-expressing lines (constitutive and Cre-inducible expression) are included in the JAX collection for more convenient generation of disease models. Whereas a gene editing approach using viral delivery of cas9 is burdened by packaging size limits, these cas9-expressing mice only require a specific single guide RNA for generating mutations. cas9 expressing mice are available on several congenic strain backgrounds and involve constructs knocked into two different loci, Gt(ROSA)26Sor or Igs2 (also known as Hipp11). The location of the Igs2 locus on chromosome 11 (cytoband A1 at ∼3cM between the Eif4enif1 and Drg1 loci) occurs within an intergenic region which reduces possible disruption of other endogenous genes.

All Repository mouse strains are cryopreserved and monitored by a robust quality control program to confirm mutation identity and genetic background. A new JAXMice website search interface facilitates queries by disease term as well as by keyword and strain, allele, and gene name or synonym (www.jax.org). Donating a strain to the Repository fulfills the requirements of the NIH's policy for the sharing of research reagents. Researchers wishing to have strains considered for inclusion in the Repository can find the submission form available at: www.jax.org/donate-a-mouse.

The Jackson Laboratory Repository is supported by the NIH, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and other private charitable foundations.

Citation Format: Deborah Boswell, Steve Rockwood, Mike Sasner, The JAX Repository Team. The Jackson Laboratory Repository: Resource for mouse models of human cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 670.