Studying Mice to Understand Human Autoimmune Diseases

Mice are excellent models for studying human disease mechanisms. Dr. Steve Pelsue at the University of Southern Maine is using specially bred mice to study autoimmune diseases like psoriasis, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. He and other immunologists can conduct the same clinical tests for autoimmune diseases in mice that are used for diagnosing those diseases in humans. But because mice breed quickly in comparison to humans, Dr. Pelsue can observe the effects of changes in genes over many generations, and then use those observations to understand human susceptibility to diseases from a genetic perspective. This type of research with mice will eventually yield the knowledge needed to develop new therapies for treating human autoimmune diseases.