Establishment of an in vivo mouse model that can be induced to produce IL-7

Aims/hypothesis: The IL-7 pathway plays an important role in the autoimmune T cell mediated islet beta-cell loss following islet transplantation in T1D, and may be a therapeutic target in cell replacement therapies. An experimental in vivo model to formally demonstrate this and to define the mechanisms involved, as well as strategies to prevent this process, is not available. Methods: Transgenic mice with a tetracycline inducible IL-7 were generated by pronuclear injection and crossed with a mouse line harboring the codon-optimized tetracycline transactivator fused to Glucocorticoid binding domain (irtTA-GBD). T…