New loci from New Zealand Black and New Zealand White on chromosomes 4 and 12 contribute to lupus-like disease in the context of BALB/c

New Zealand Black (NZB) and New Zealand White (NZW) mice are genetically predisposed to a lupus-like autoimmune syndrome. To further define the loci linked to disease traits in NZB and NZW mice in the context of the BALB/c genetic background, linkage analyses were conducted in two crosses: (NZW x BALE/c.H2(z))F-1 x NZB and (NZB x BALB/c)F-2. Novel loci linked to autoantibody production and glomerulonephritis, present in both NZB and NZW mice, were identified on proximal chromosomes 12 and 4. The chromosome 12 locus showed the strongest linkage to anti-nuclear Ab production. Additionally, a number of other novel loci linked to lupus traits derived from both the New Zealand and non-autoimmune BALB/c genomes were identified. Furthermore, we confirm the linkage of disease to a number of previously described lupus-associated loci, demonstrating that they are relatively background independent. These data provide a number of additional candidate gene regions in murine lupus, and highlight the powerful effect the non-autoimmune background strain has in influencing the genetic loci linked to disease.