M. Salazar et al., LIFE-SPAN, T-CELL RESPONSES, AND INCIDENCE OF LYMPHOMAS IN CONGENIC MICE, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Statesof America, 92(9), 1995, pp. 3992-3996
Survival, T-cell functions, and postmortem histopathology were studied
in H-2 congenic strains of mice bearing H-2(b), H-2(k), and H-2(d) ha
plotypes. Males lived longer than females in all homozygous and hetero
zygous combinations except for H-2(d) homozygotes, which showed no dif
ferences between males anti females. Association of heterozygosity wit
h longer survival Iras observed only with H-2(b)/H-2(b) and H-2(b)/H-2
(d) mice, Analysis using classification and regression trees (CART) sh
owed that both males and females of H-2(b) homozygous and H-2(k)/H-2(b
) mice had the shortest life-span of the strains studied. In histopath
ological analyses, lymphomas were noted to be more frequent in females
, while hemangiosarcomas and hepatomas were more frequent in males, Ly
mphomas appeared earlier than hepatomas or hemangiosarcomas, The incid
ence of lymphomas was associated with the H-2 haplotype-e.g., H-2(b) h
omozygous mice had more lymphomas than did mice of the H-2(d) haplotyp
e. More vigorous T-cell function was maintained with age (27 months) i
n H-2(d), H-2(b)/H-2(d), and H-2(d)/H2(k) mice as compared with H-2(b)
, H-2(k), and H-2(b)/H-2(k) mice, which shelved a decline of T-cell re
sponses with age.