Development of a major histocompatibility complex class II conditional knockout mouse to study cell-specific and time-dependent adaptive immune responses in peripheral nerves.

A conditional MHC class II knockout mouse to study cell- and time-dependent adaptive immune responses in vivo was developed. Initial studies show microvascular endothelial cell MHC class II expression is necessary for peripheral nerve specific autoimmunity, as advocated by human in vitro adaptive immunity and ex vivo transplant rejection studies.