Patent ID: 6924412

Claim:
A transgenic, non-human mammalian animal whose genome comprises: a stably integrated, recombinant nucleic acid encoding a polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (pIgR) protein operatively linked to a mammary specific promoter; wherein a mammary gland of said transgenic, non-human mammalian animal over-expresses said pIgR protein as compared to expression of the pIgR protein in a mammary gland of a wild-type, non-human mammalian animal; wherein said pIgR protein transports a polymeric immunoglobulin protein across the basolateral side of a mammary gland's epithelial cell to the apical side of the mammary gland's epithelial cell as compared to a different immunoglobulin protein located on the epithelial cell's basolateral side.