Genetically modified mice for studying TNAP function

Abstract

Genetically modified mice are powerful tools for understanding the functions of genes and proteins and often serve as models of human disease. Here, several knockout and transgenic mouse lines related to tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) are described. Conventional TNAP knockout mice die before weaning and show vitamin B6 dependent epilepsy and impaired bone mineralization, mimicking infantile hypophosphatasia. Administration of recombinant human TNAP rescues the lethal phenotype and improves bone mineralization in the null knockout mice, and this enzyme replacement therapy has been successfully applied to the treatment of human patients. Transgenic expression of human TNAP also rescues the TNAP knockout mice. Studies of the TNAP knockout mice and their double knockouts with ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 1 or progressive ankylosis protein revealed that pyridoxal phosphate and inorganic pyrophosphate are natural substrates of TNAP. Bone osteopontin from TNAP knockout mice is highly phosphorylated, whereas osteopontin from TNAP knockout mice expressing human TNAP is de-phosphorylated, similar to that in wild type mice, indicating that osteopontin is also a natural substrate of TNAP and that phosphorylated osteopontin contributes the impaired bone mineralization in TNAP knockout mice. Conditional TNAP knockout mice and TNAP mutants produced by ENU (N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea) mutagenesis show milder hypophosphatasia and are expected to be useful models of adult hypophosphatasia.