Chronic active hepatitis in transgenic mice expressing interferon-gamma in the liver.
Interferon-gamma may play an important role in the immune response and in inflammatory diseases, including chronic active hepatitis. To understand the role of interferon-gamma in the regulation of inflammation and to establish a mouse model of chronic active hepatitis, we produced transgenic mice in which the mouse interferon-gamma gene was regulated by a liver-specific promoter, the serum amyloid P component gene promoter. Four transgenic mouse lines were generated, and two of these lines expressed mRNA of interferon-gamma in the liver. Levels of serum transaminases increased gradually as a function of age and were significantly higher than those of interferon-gamma-negative littermates after 4 weeks after birth. One transgenic mouse line showed a histology of chronic active hepatitis similar to that found in human patients, although cirrhotic changes such as fibrosis were scarce. Thus, the liver-specific production of interferon-gamma is sufficient to induce chronic inflammatory disease and this mouse is a transgenic model of chronic active hepatitis.[1]References
- Chronic active hepatitis in transgenic mice expressing interferon-gamma in the liver. Toyonaga, T., Hino, O., Sugai, S., Wakasugi, S., Abe, K., Shichiri, M., Yamamura, K. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. (1994) [Pubmed]
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