The mouse as a model for the effects of MHC genes on human disease

As mice are often used to model human major histocompatibility complex (MHC )-associated diseases, if is important to understand how their MHC regions differ at the DNA level. The sequencing of the mouse MHC (H2 region) has en abled a detailed map of this region to be assembled for comparison with the human MHC. Here, Richard Allcock and colleagues outline the similarities b etween the human and mouse MHC regions and discuss notable differences that might affect disease models.