Immunodeficient rats represent powerful tools to investigate the pathobiology of B cell disorders such as leukemias and lymphomas, as well as lymphoid compartment development.
They are valid alternatives to immunodeficient mice since, e.g., the liquid nature of malignancies like B cell lymphoma make downstream analysis quite challenging due to small blood volumes of mice.
Compared to the traditional immunodeficient nude rats, which lack T cells but maintain a normal repertoire of all other immune cells, including B and NK cells, the SDRG model is a double Knockout for Rag1 and IL-2Rγ genes (Rag1-/- Il2rγ-/-), resulting in a B, T and NK cell deficiency.
Applications
The SDRG rat represents a valid preclinical model to study:
- Lymphoid compartment development
- B cell malignancies (e.g., leukemias, lymphomas)
- Xenografts
- Inflammatory disorders
- Infectious diseases