Manipulation of T cell function and conditional gene targeting in T cells

Methods Mol Biol. 2014:1193:153-69. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-1212-4_15.

Abstract

Cre-Lox recombination is known as a site-specific recombinase technology, and is widely used to carry out modification at specific sites in the DNA of cells. The system consists of an enzyme, Cre recombinase, that recombines a pair of short target sequences, the lox sites. The Cre-Lox system can be used to activate or repress a gene depending on the placement of the lox sites. Placing the Cre recombinase under the control of a cell-specific promoter allows expression only in specific cells or cellular subsets, thus providing a powerful tool for analysis of gene function at specific developmental or physiological niches. Nowadays almost every aspect of T cell biology can be approached by a specific Cre model. This powerful tool allows scientists to overcome the limitations of gene-deficient animals and target a gene of interest specifically in T cell or T cell subsets by appropriate placement of the lox sites. Here we describe the main Cre lines that enable gene targeting in T helper cells or CD4 T cell subsets, and the most common methods of assessing the recombination efficiency.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Targeting / methods*
  • Gene Transfer Techniques*
  • Integrases / genetics*
  • Luminescent Proteins / genetics
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Mice, Transgenic
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Receptors, Estrogen / genetics
  • Recombination, Genetic
  • T-Lymphocytes / physiology*
  • Tamoxifen / pharmacology
  • Transcriptional Activation / drug effects

Substances

  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Receptors, Estrogen
  • Tamoxifen
  • Cre recombinase
  • Integrases