Locus controlling Bordetella pertussis-induced histamine sensitization (Bphs), an autoimmune disease-susceptibility gene, maps distal to T-cell receptor beta-chain gene on mouse chromosome 6.

Pertussis toxin (PTX) is the primary component responsible for eliciting the majority of biological activities associated with Bordetella pertussis, including the induction of several tissue-adjuvant models of organ-specific autoimmune disease. PTX, when administered in vivo, enhances vascular permeability, which is made manifest by a concomitant increase in sensitivity to a variety of agents and treatments affecting the vascular bed. One such agent is histamine, and the response to PTX, as measured by hypersensitivity following vasoactive amine challenge, is genetically controlled by the Bphs locus. Susceptibility to the induction of both experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) and experimental allergic orchitis (EAO) in mice is associated with, and in the latter case linked to, a susceptible allele at this locus. We report here the mapping of the Bphs locus to mouse chromosome 6, telomeric of Tcrb and centromeric of Prp (D6Nds8). This region also contains a number of loci of immunologic relevance including Igk, Ly-2, Ly-3, Il-5r, Ly-35, Ly-4, and Tnfr-2.