Nudehiireillä

Nudehiireillä refers to a strain of laboratory mice known for their hairlessness and deficient immune system due to a hereditary mutation. The phenotype, often called the nude or athymic phenotype, arises from a recessive mutation in the Foxn1 gene (nu/nu) that leads to thymic aplasia and, consequently, a lack of mature T cells. As a result, nudehiiret typically exhibit little or no body hair and have severely compromised T-cell–mediated immunity, while other components of the immune system, such as B cells, may remain present but functionally limited.

These mice are widely used as model organisms in biomedical research because their impaired immune system permits engraftment and growth of foreign tissues, including human tumor xenografts. This capability makes nudehiiret valuable in cancer research, immunology, transplantation studies, and regenerative medicine, where researchers study tumor biology, test therapeutics, or evaluate human-derived cells in a living host. They provide a controlled system to observe interactions between implanted tissues and an immunodeficient background.

Maintenance and care for nudehiiret require specialized husbandry to minimize infection risk, given their vulnerability to pathogens. They are typically housed in sterile, pathogen-free environments with careful monitoring and husbandry protocols. While offering advantages for certain types of experiments, their lack of a fully functional immune system means results may not fully translate to immunocompetent organisms, and researchers must account for this limitation in study design and interpretation.

In research contexts, nudehiiret are often discussed alongside other immunodeficient models, such as SCID and NSG mice, each with distinctive immunological profiles and applications.