Genetic and pathogenic basis of autoimmune diabetes in NOD mice.

Non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice are an excellent model of T-cell mediated autoimmune insulin-dependent diabetes in humans. Recent studies in NOD mice have shown that this disease is a result of epistatic interactions between multiple genes, both inside and outside the major histocompatibility complex (MHC), generating T cells reactive against an expanding repertoire of autoantigens.