Table 1

Clinical mouse models of lupus

Mouse model		Autoantibodies	Clinical manifestation
Mouse model		Autoantibodies	Glomerulonephritis	Arthritis	Skin rash	Others	Advantages	Disadvantages	References
Spontaneous models	NZB/NZW F1 (BW)	ANA. Anti-dsDNA.	Active proliferative (4–5 months)	Absent	Absent	Vasculitis	Accelerated by IFN	Slow disease progression. Requires cross of two strains to generate the model	15 16
	MRL/lpr	ANA (anti-Sm, anti-Ro and anti-La). Anti-dsDNA.	Active proliferative (3–4 months)	Microscopic synovitis	Rash on face and back	Cognitive dysfunction, vasculitis and oophoritis	Early and severe disease onset with several clinical manifestations observed in humans	Fas mutation does not drive human SLE. SLE is not driven by IFN-α.	20
	MRL/+	ANA. Anti-dsDNA.	Nephritis (very late in life)	Mild microscopic synovitis	Mild dermatitis	Late cognitive dysfunction		Develop milder lupus at a later stage	19
	BXSB	ANA (anti-nucleolar). Anti-dsDNA.	Proliferative (4–5 months)	Absent but neutrophilic infiltrate in joints	Absent		Evaluation of TLR-7 driven mechanisms	Male predominance contrary to the human SLE	28
Induced models	Pristane	ANA (anti-SnRNP and anti-Su). Anti-dsDNA.	Active proliferative nephritis (6–8 months post induction)	Erosive arthritis	Rash on face	Hepatitis, pulmonary vasculitis, anaemia and serositis	Induced in non-autoimmune strain Predictable timing	Difference susceptibility between strains. Slow clinical manifestation onset.	32–34
	Resiquimod	ANA. Anti-dsDNA.	Proliferative nephritis (at 4 weeks post induction)	Absent	Absent	Splenomegaly, carditis, hepatitis	No gender predominance Rapid onset	Limited organ manifestation	36
	Imiquimod	ANA. Anti-dsDNA.	Proliferative nephritis	Absent	Dermatitis	Atherosclerosis	No gender predominance Rapid onset	Limited organ manifestation	36

BW, black−white; dsDNA, anti-double stranded DNA; Fas, cell surface death receptor; IFN, interferon; lpr, lymphoproliferation; MRL, Murphy-Roths-Large; NZ, New Zealand; Sm, Smith; SnRNP, small nuclear ribonucleoprotein; TLR, toll-like receptor.