Cd40 deficient mice

CD21-cre^{14 (link)}, Cγ1-cre^{50 (link)}, CD4-cre^{51 (link)}, hCD2-cre^{32 (link)}, and CD40-deficient mice^{52 (link)} were purchased from the Jackson Laboratory. The targeting constructs for miR-146a^{fl53 (link)} and miR-146b^fl were generated using recombineering. For detailed information see the National Cancer Institute recombineering website (http://redrecombineering.ncifcrf.gov/). Mice on a B6 genetic background with the germ-line transmission were bred to Flp deleter mice to remove the neomycin resistance cassette. B cell-, T cell-, or T and B cell- specific deletion of miR-146a and/or miR-146b were achieved by breeding miR-146a^fl/fl or miR-146b^fl/fl mice to CD21-cre, CD4-cre or hCD2-cre mice respectively. CD40-deficient mice were bred with B-KO mice to generate B-KO/CD40^+/− mice. Unless otherwise indicated, 8- to 10-weeks-old mice were used. All mice were maintained and handled in accordance with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Guidelines of UCSD and National Institutes of Health Guidelines for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and the ARRIVE Guidelines.

Mice with deletion of the entire Stat5A/5B locus (Stat5^−/−) and mice with the entire Stat5A/5B locus gene flanked with loxP sites (Stat5^fl/fl) were used^{69 (link)}. The Stat5^fl/+ mice were bred with Stat5^+/− mice to generate Stat5^fl/− mice. CD8Cre transgenic mice, Ig^HEL (C57BL/6, MD4), sHEL (C57BL/6, ML5) transgenic mice, BM1 mice, Rag1-deficient mice, CD45.1 congenic mice, CXCR5-deficient mice, PD-1-deficient mice, Lag3-deficiect mice and CD40-deficient mice were obtained from the Jackson Laboratory. Bcl6^fl/flCD4Cre mice were also used^{70 (link)}. Mice were housed in the SPF animal facility at the Medical College of Wisconsin, the animal experiments were performed using protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

C57BL/6 mice were purchased from Charles River. CD40 deficient (^–/–) mice on the C57BL/6 background were purchased from Jackson laboratories (Bar Harbor, ME). IL-21R^–/–, IL-4 gfp/gfp and Foxp3-EGFP mice were obtained by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under contract with Taconic Farms (Germantown, NY, United States). All animals were maintained under specific pathogen free conditions and all animal protocols used in this study were approved by the NIAID Animal Care and Use Committee.