Abstract
Single dosage effects of the rat nude gene (rnu) on spontaneous development of epithelial thymoma, muscle atrophy and nephrotic syndrome were studied by comparing littermates of rnu/+and+/+rats on a high thymoma strain, BUF/Mna, background. Heterozygous rnu/+rats had a significantly smaller thymus than the+/+littermates at 6 weeks of age. The incidence of thymoma at 12 months of age was extremely low in the female rnu/+rats (3%) as compared with that of the +/+ rats (94%). Development of the nephrotic syndrome but not of the muscle atrophy was also suppressed in the heterozygotes. The results suggest that a recessive mutant gene, rnu, in a single dosage, interfered with critical steps of the disease processes of the thymoma and nephrotic syndrome in BUF/Mna-background rats.
