Animal Models of Autoimmune Diseases

Human Autoimmune Disease

• 5% of the US population is affected by autoimmune diseases including:
  • Multiple sclerosis
  • Rheumatoid arthritis
  • Type 1 diabetes
  • Crohn’s Disease
  • Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
  • Lupus
• 9 out of 18 human clusters of autoimmune susceptible genes share highly-conserved genetic regions with animal models
  • The major histocompatibility locus (MHC) is one of the major susceptibility loci
• Environmental factors also contribute to the onset of autoimmunity