Genetic Modeling of Autoimmune Disorders

Animal protocols were approved by the Washington University Animal Studies Committee. MiR-223^−/− and littermate-derived wild-type (WT) mice (C57Bl/6 background) were obtained from Dr. Todd Fehniger and bred at Washington University. The miR-223 gene is located on the X chromosome, and mice were bred as miR-223^−/y or littermate miR-223^+/y (termed WT throughout the manuscript) males with heterozygous females. MiR-223^−/− and WT mice deriving from these breeding pairs were used in all experiments. C57BL/6 mice transgenic for a TCR with specificity for the peptide MOG_35–55 (TCR^MOG mice, also referred to as 2D2 mice; The Jackson Laboratory) were screened by flow cytometric analysis of peripheral blood cells using a specific antibody to Vβ11 (BD Biosciences) [3 (link)]. Mice were 6–9 weeks of age at the initiation of the studies.