Identification of Orch3, a locus controlling dominant resistance to autoimmune orchitis, as kinesin family member 1C.

• Main Authors: Roxana del Rio, Ryan D McAllister, Nathan D Meeker, Emma H Wall, Jeffrey P Bond, Vasileios C Kyttaris, George C Tsokos, Kenneth S K Tung, Cory Teuscher
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012-01-01
• Series: PLoS Genetics
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3531464?pdf=render

Experimental autoimmune orchitis (EAO), the principal model of non-infectious testicular inflammatory disease, can be induced in susceptible mouse strains by immunization with autologous testicular homogenate and appropriate adjuvants. As previously established, the genome of DBA/2J mice encodes genes that are capable of conferring dominant resistance to EAO, while the genome of BALB/cByJ mice does not and they are therefore susceptible to EAO. In a genome scan, we previously identified Orch3 as the major quantitative trait locus controlling dominant resistance to EAO and mapped it to chromosome 11. Here, by utilizing a forward genetic approach, we identified kinesin family member 1C (Kif1c) as a positional candidate for Orch3 and, using a transgenic approach, demonstrated that Kif1c is Orch3. Mechanistically, we showed that the resistant Kif1c(D2) allele leads to a reduced antigen-specific T cell proliferative response as a consequence of decreased MHC class II expression by antigen presenting cells, and that the L(578) → P(578) and S(1027) → P(1027) polymorphisms distinguishing the BALB/cByJ and DBA/2J alleles, respectively, can play a role in transcriptional regulation. These findings may provide mechanistic insight into how polymorphism in other kinesins such as KIF21B and KIF5A influence susceptibility and resistance to human autoimmune diseases.