MYD88

Myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MYD88) is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the MYD88 gene.

Model organisms

Model organisms have been used in the study of MYD88 function. The gene was originally discovered and cloned by Dan Liebermann and Barbara Hoffman in mice. In that species it is a universal adapter protein as it is used by almost all TLRs (except TLR 3) to activate the transcription factor NF-κB. Mal (also known as TIRAP) is necessary to recruit Myd88 to TLR 2 and TLR 4, and MyD88 then signals through IRAK. It also interacts functionally with amyloid formation and behavior in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease.

A conditional knockout mouse line, called Myd88^{tm1a(EUCOMM)Wtsi} was generated as part of the International Knockout Mouse Consortium program — a high-throughput mutagenesis project to generate and distribute animal models of disease to interested scientists. Male and female animals underwent a standardized phenotypic screen to determine the effects of deletion. Twenty-one tests were carried out on homozygous mutant animals, revealing one abnormality: male mutants had an increased susceptibility to bacterial infection.