Genetic basis of autoimmune disease in MRL/lpr mice: Dissection of the complex pathological manifestations and their susceptibility loci

MRL/MpJ-lpr/lpr (MRL/lpr) mice spontaneously develop various forms of autoimmune disease in the same individuals, including glomerulonephritis, polyarteritis, arthritis and sialoadenitis. An MRL recombinant congenic strain of mice bearing the gld gene, MRL/MpTn-gld/gld (MRL/gld), also develops lesions similar to those in MRL/lpr mice. The lpr and gld genes are a Fas deletion mutant and a Fas ligand mutant, respectively. Thus, autoimmune disease in these mice seemed to be a single gene disease involving the complex pathological manifestations as pleiotropy. However, comparative studies with C3H/HeJ and C57BL/6J strains of mice bearing lpr or gld revealed that these lesions developed only in mice with an MRL background. Moreover, these lesions were genetically segregated among MRL/lprx(MRL/lprxC3H/lpr)F1 mice. This indicates that an MRL strain has particular gene(s) affecting the development of each lesion. Association studies of each lesion with polymorphic microsatellite markers using backcross mice revealed that gene loci responsible for each lesion exist at different chromosomal positions and have additive and hierarchical properties of polygenic inheritance for some of the lesions. We conclude that the complex pathological manifestations of autoimmune disease are under the control of different combinations of polygenes.