Studies of murine systemic autoimmunity.

Systemic autoimmunity is an important clinical problem, offering a window into fundamental questions of self-nonself tolerance. We have used cellular immunology, serology, and immunopathology to approach several spontaneous mouse models. Although much remains to be done, a picture is emerging of pathological antigen-driven immune responses to self nuclear antigens, highly dependent on multiple genes, and susceptible to abnormalities of apoptosis.