# Igh locus function in immunosenescent mice

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 2022 · $194,533

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
COVID-19 (coronavirus infectious disease 19) is now a global pandemic with over 49.1 million cases to
date. COVID-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-coronavirus (CoV)-2, a member
of the coronavirus family. It is striking that eighty percent of COVID-19 related deaths occur in patients
aged 65 and over. Immune responses of aged adults undergo immunosenescence which expresses with
multiple age dependent changes. Immune senescence is linked to restricted Ig repertoire formation and
susceptibility to a variety of virally induced diseases. Older individuals are particularly vulnerable to a
range of new and emerging infectious agents perhaps as a result of a less diverse antibody repertoire.
However, to identify clinical interventions that mitigate the effects of immunosenescence it is critical to
characterize the underlying environmental and cell intrinsic mechanisms leading to the muted adaptive
immune responses. Here we propose an exploratory series of studies to examine the pre-selected Ig
repertoire in early and mature B cells in young and aged mice to establish whether repertoire deficiencies
observed in peripheral B cells of aged individuals originate, at least in part, from impaired V(D)J
recombination, class switch recombination, locus conformation and/or Igh enhancer function. Results
obtained from this exploratory project will shed light on whether a) limited Ig repertoire diversification
results from impaired Igh locus function during V(D)J recombination and class switch recombination, and
b) whether Igh locus dysfunction is cell intrinsic.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10427437
- **Project number:** 5R21AI159626-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Amy L Kenter
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $194,533
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-06-11 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10427437

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10427437, Igh locus function in immunosenescent mice (5R21AI159626-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10427437. Licensed CC0.

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