Experimental use of murine lupus models

Murine models of systemic lupus erythematosus provide fertile research systems for the pathogenesis and therapy of systemic autoimmune disease. Their phenotypes span the broad range of clinical manifestations of human lupus and consist of both spontaneous and experimentally induced disease in both inbred and targeted mutant animals. This chapter contrasts the clinical characteristics of these various models, providing an outline for the use and analysis of these in vivo autoimmune systems.