The co-operative nature of tetraspanin-tetraspanin interactions in membrane organisation
suggests that functional overlap is likely to be a factor in tetraspanin biology. CD37 and Tssc6
are immune/haematopoietic restricted tetraspanins, whose function has been previously
investigated with CD37"7" and TSSC6"7" knockout mice. Both strains display hyper-proliferative T
cell responses to in vitro stimulation, suggesting that functional overlap may occur between
these two tetraspanin molecules in the immune system. To test this hypothesis, the
immunophenotype of a tetraspanin "double knockout' mouse (CDST^Tssce-7") is described.