Assembly of disease-relevant pathways in the mouse

描述(由申请者提供)：在小鼠体内组装与疾病相关的通路小鼠继续提供关于基因在规范生物学和疾病发病机制中的作用的重要信息。小鼠模型已经被识别和开发用于许多疾病，包括阿尔茨海默氏症、自身免疫性疾病、心血管疾病和癌症。这些包括特定近交系小鼠特有的复杂模型，如糖尿病NOD小鼠系，以及通过操纵小鼠生殖系产生的模型。这些操作包括引入转基因、移除基因和通过定向突变将点突变引入小鼠基因。通常，模型的开发需要培育小鼠来产生携带多种突变的动物。虽然小鼠模型在了解疾病的发病机制方面非常有用，但在许多情况下，它们不适用于新疗法的评估。例如，开发中的治疗性抗体很少与同源小鼠基因发生交叉反应，Fc受体在物种之间的分布以及抗体清除的差异使得对这些药物的评估变得困难。同样，人类和小鼠在小分子代谢方面的差异限制了许多小鼠疾病模型在研究这类疗法的有效性方面的有用性。此外，在大多数情况下，迄今为止开发的大多数小鼠疾病模型的遗传结构与处于疾病风险中的个体并不相似。也许更重要的是，随着影响疾病发病机制的新遗传因素被识别，这些模型不适合进一步快速的基因操作。此外，当发现新的疾病相关多态时，很少有模型能够容易地测试这些变异的功能暗示。在这一应用中，我们提出了快速建立小鼠模型的策略和方法，用于：1)疾病相关基因多态性的功能评估，2)疾病发病机制中基因-基因相互作用的研究，以及3)针对这些疾病相关基因的治疗测试。具体地说，我们建议发展对这种分泌酶复合体的评估有用的细胞和小鼠系。这种多亚单位的复合酶介导了包括淀粉样前体蛋白(APP)在内的许多重要分子的膜内裂解。APP被分泌酶切割产生淀粉样蛋白，这是阿尔茨海默病斑块的主要成分。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Assembly of disease-relevant pathways in the mouse The mouse continues to provide important information concerning the role of genes in both normative biology and pathogenesis of disease. Mouse models have been identified and developed for many diseases, including Alzheimer's, autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. These include complex models unique to specific inbred mouse lines such as the diabetic NOD mouse line and models that have been generated by manipulation of the mouse germline. These manipulations include the introduction of transgenes, the removal of genes and the introduction of point mutations into mouse genes by targeted mutagenesis. Often, the development of models requires the breeding of mice to generate animals carrying multiple mutations. While mouse models have been enormously useful in understanding the pathogenesis of disease, in many cases they are not amenable to the evaluation of new therapeutics. For example, few of the therapeutic antibodies in development cross react with the orthologous mouse gene, and the distribution of Fc receptors between species and differences in antibody clearance makes evaluation of these drugs difficult. Similarly, differences between human and mouse in the metabolism of small molecules limit the usefulness of many mouse disease models for the study of the efficacy of this class of therapeutics. Furthermore, in the majority of cases, the genetic architecture of most mouse disease models developed to date does not resemble that of individuals at risk for disease. Perhaps more importantly, the models are not amenable to further rapid genetic manipulation as new genetic factors influencing disease pathogenesis are identified. In addition, when novel disease associated polymorphisms are discovered, few of the models allow easy testing of the functional implications of these variants. In this application we propose the development of strategies and methods for the rapid generation of mouse models useful for: 1) the functional evaluation of disease associated polymorphisms, 2) the study of gene-gene interactions in disease pathogenesis, and 3) testing of therapeutics directed against these disease associated genes. Specifically we propose to develop cell and mouse lines useful for such evaluation of the ¿-secretase complex. This multi-subunit protease complex mediates intramembranous cleavage of a number of important molecules including amyloid precursor protein (APP). Cleavage of APP by ¿-secretase yields ¿-amyloid, a primary component of plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.