Introduction and expression of the human Bs-globin gene in transgenic mice

Abstract

Owing to the episodic and unpredictable nature of the sickling crisis, many aspects of the disease sickle cell anemia have resisted in vivo analysis. The lack of an animal model has hindered the pathophysiological investigation of this disease, as well as deterred the development of pharmacological therapies. The transgenic mouse system offers a new means for creating animals that make a specified mutant gene product, and we have used this system to create a series of mice that contain the human beta s-globin gene. These animals express this gene in the appropriate tissues and at the same point in development as the adult mouse globin genes are expressed. We have crossed the human beta s-containing transgenic mice with a beta-thalassemic mouse line and examined the hemoglobins produced by these mice. Their red cells contain 10% mouse alpha/human beta s hybrid hemoglobin, which partially corrects the thalassemic phenotype of the homozygous beta-thalassemic animals. Though the red cells do not sickle, other properties of the human beta s gene in these mice indicate the potential for the eventual development of a transgenic animal model for sickle cell anemia.