History and milestones of mouse models of autoimmune diseases

Autoimmune diseases are a group of disorders mediated by self-reactive T cells and/or autoantibodies. Mice, as the most widely used animal for modeling autoimmune disorders, have been extensively used in the investigation of disease pathogenesis as well as in the search for novel therapeutics. Since the first mouse model of multiple sclerosis was established more than 60 years ago, hundreds of mouse models have been established for tens of autoimmune diseases. These mouse models can be divided into three categories based on the approaches used for disease induction. The first one represents the induced models in which autoimmunity is initiated in mice by immunization, adoptive transfer or environmental factors. The second group is formed by the spontaneous models where mice develop autoimmune disorders without further induction. The third group refers to the humanized models in which mice bearing humanized cells, tissues, or genes, develop autoimmune diseases either spontaneously or by induction. This article reviews the history and highlights the milestones of the mouse models of autoimmune diseases.