Table 6.

Examples of mouse models for the NHEJ repair pathway

Genotype	Developmental defects	Fertility defects	Spontaneous tumorigenesis	References
DNA-PKcs−/−	T and B-cell development arrested at early progenitor stages	None	Not affected	(Gao et al, 1998a; Taccioli et al, 1998; Kurimasa et al, 1999)
Ku70−/−	Growth retardation and early arrest of T and B-cell development	None	Thymic lymphomas	(Gu et al, 1997; Ouyang et al, 1997)
Ku80−/−	Growth retardation and early arrest of T and B-cell development	None	Not affected	(Nussenzweig et al, 1997)
Ku80−/−p53−/−	Growth retardation and block of T and B-cell development	None	Early onset of pro B-cell lymphomas	(Difilippantonio et al, 2000)
Artemis−/−	Developmental arrest at early T and B cell progenitor stages	None	None	(Rooney et al, 2002; Li et al, 2005)
Artemis−/− p53−/−	Developmental arrest at early T and B cell progenitor stages	None	Pro-B cell lymphomas	(Rooney et al, 2004)
LigIV Y288C	Growth retardation and progressive loss of haematopoeitic stem cells	NA	None	(Nijnik et al, 2007)
LigIV−/−	Late embryonic lethality	NA	NA	(Barnes et al, 1998; Frank et al, 1998)
LigIV−/−p53−/−	Viable but growth retarded	None	Early onset of pro B-cell lymphomas	(Frank et al, 2000)
Xrcc4−/−	Late embryonic lethality	NA	NA	(Gao et al, 1998b)
Xrcc4−/−p53−/−	Viable but growth retarded	None	Early onset of pro B-cell lymphomas	(Gao et al, 2000)
NA, not applicable.