Of genes and phenotypes: the immunological and molecular spectrum of combined immune deficiency. Defects of the gamma(c)-JAK3 signaling pathway as a model
Cytokines play a major role in lymphoid development. Defects of the common gamma chain (gamma (c)) or of the JAK3 protein in humans have been shown to result in a severe combined immune deficiency (SCID), with a profound defect in T and natural killer (NK)-cell development, whereas B-cell generation is apparently unaffected (T-B+NK- SCID). While extensive molecular and biochemical analysis of thes