This review examines the field of current HLA class II transgenic mouse mod
els and the individual approaches applied in production of these mice. The
majority of these mice have been created with the objective of obtaining a
disease model with clinical features mimicking human autoimmune disease. Th
e development process of a different type of HLA class II transgenic mice,
which are designed to function as a substitute for a normal human immune sy
stem in studies of human autoantigens, is described. Several HLA-DR4 transg
enic lines with normally expressed HLA-DR4 molecules have been produced. To
obtain adequate positive selection of the HLA-DR4-restricted CD4(+) T-cell
repertoire in these mice it is essential both to introduce a human CD4 tra
nsgene, and to delete the murine major histocompatibility complex (MHC) cla
ss II molecules. These HLA-DR4 transgenic mice have been used to determine
the immunogenic CD4(+) T-cell epitopes of several human autoantigenic prote
ins.