TTP-deficient (knockout [KO]) mice exhibit an early-onset, severe inflammatory phenotype, with cachexia, erosive arthritis, left-sided cardiac valvulitis, myeloid hyperplasia, and autoimmunity, which can be prevented by injections of anti-TNF Abs, or interbreeding with TNF receptor-deficient mice.
We resequenced ZFP36 in 316 individuals with autoimmune diseases and identified 28 polymorphisms and determined the frequency of all the known ZFP36 polymorphisms in 484 participants of the Environmental Polymorphism Registry, a regional registry being conducted by the NIEHS.
This activity was discovered after TTP-deficient mice were created and found to have a systemic inflammatory syndrome with severe polyarticular arthritis and autoimmunity, as well as medullary and extramedullary myeloid hyperplasia.