The Jackson Laboratory Expands Focus on Diabetes Research

JAX® NOTES Issue 510, Summer 2008

Diabetes is one of the world's most serious diseases. In America alone, it affects 20.8 million people (seven percent of the population), burdening our economy with approximately $132 billion a year in related health costs (The American Diabetes Association). In some parts of the country, especially in large cities, diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. In recent years, research on diabetes and its risk factors (particularly obesity, smoking, and lack of exercise) has increased exponentially, prompting an intensive effort to develop better diabetes research tools. Our mouse models, services, online resources, publications, and educational offerings are among the best diabetes research tools available.

NONcNZO10/LtJ (Stock number 004456, common name RCS-10) an albino (white) recombinant congenic laboratory mouse, commonly used for diabetes and obesity research.

 Stock number 004456

JAX® Mice Diabetes Models

We offer over 260 JAX® Mice models suitable for diabetes and obesity research. They include the classic "diabetes mouse" BKS.Cg-m +/+ Leprdb/J (000642) (see the profile of this mouse), the obese mouse B6.V-Lepob/J (000632), the NOD/ShiLtJ (001976) mouse, as well as some models developed by our scientists which are becoming increasingly popular:

  • Dr. Ed Leiter, diabetes researcher for nearly 35 years, has developed numerous diabetes models, recognizable by the code "Lt" in their strain names. He brought the NOD/ShiLtJ (001976) strain to The Jackson Laboratory, and initiated the first set of MHC congenics on this substrain. He developed the NONcNZO10/LtJ (004456) mouse which exhibits many of the characteristics of human type 2 diabetes. Dr. Leiter also directs the Type 1 Diabetes Resource (T1DR), a repository dedicated to collecting and cryopreserving mouse strains for use in type 1 diabetes research.
  • Dr. Leonard Shultz has developed several diabetes models, recognizable by the code "Sz" in their strain names. He developed the NOD.Cg-Prkdcscid Il2rgtm1Wjl/SzJ (005557) model which is widely used in cancer and immunology research. Its utility in diabetes research stems from the fact that it does not need to be irradiated when used as a recipient of diabetic T cells in diabetes transfer experiments.
  • Dr. David Serreze has developed numerous diabetes models, recognizable by the code “Dvs” in their strain names. Four of these, NOD.129S7(B6)-Ifngtm1Ts/DvsJ (002575), NOD.129P2(B6)-Il4tm1Cgn/DvsJ (004222), NOD.Cg-Il10tm1Cgn/DvsJ (004266), and NOD.Cg-Tg(TcraTcrbNY8.3)1Pesa/DvsJ (005868) are being used by Dr. Christophe Benoist of the Joslin Diabetes Center (see the feature article).
  • Dr. Yaacov Barak has developed several JAX® Mice models, including B6.129-Ppargtm2Rev/J (004584), a model suitable for researching the molecular links between peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARg), fat cell function, and susceptibility to diabetes and metabolic disease.
  • Dr. Jurgen Naggert and his colleagues have developed several diabetes models, recognizable by the code "Jng" in their strain names. The TALLYHO/JngJ (005314) mouse is a model of type 2 diabetes which is characterized by moderate obesity, hyperglycemia (males only), hyperlipidemia, hyperinsulinemia, glucose intolerance, and enlarged pancreatic islets.

The diabetes phenotypes of these and other type 2 diabetes models are compared in our Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity Resource Manual (see Table 1) and described in detail in the JAX® Mice Database. We are constantly acquiring new diabetes models. In the last six months, 23 new models have become available, and over 40 are currently under development.