查看文章

Bare lymphocyte syndrome (BLS), a genetic disorder that affects the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) gene complex, causes partial loss of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). Categorized on the basis of the phenotypic HLA class I expression levels, BLS type I is often associated with the mutation/deletion in the transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) molecule. Patients suffering from TAP deficiency exhibit recurring bacterial infections of the upper respiratory tract, and baseline natural killer (NK) cells that lack cytotoxicity towards class MHC class I deficient targets. These non-functional NK cells might contribute to the impaired antibacterial defence. To study the mechanism, we will conduct experiments on wild-type (wt) and TAP-KO mice with C57BL/6 background along with the human samples obtained from TAP-deficient patients. To establish a mouse model with chronic …