Patent 7265261 was granted and assigned to Japan Science and Technology Agency on September, 2007 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention is to provide a non-human animal model of systemic lupus erythematosus wherein generation of anti-double stranded DNA antibody and anti-single stranded antibody is induced, and that is made to spontaneously develop glomerulonephritis and arthritis, and a screening method for a therapeutic agent for systemic lupus erythematosus wherein the non-human animal model is used. FcγRIIB deficient mouse that is not made to spontaneously develop autoimmune pathology although its autoantibody response is enhanced is backcrossed into C57BL/6J (B6) mouse for 12 generations to generate FcγRIIB deficient B6 mouse, the FcγRIIB deficient B6 male mouse is intercrossed with lpr/B6 female mouse, and thus obtained FcγRIIB+/−/lpr+/− mice were further crossed to generate a mouse model of systemic lupus erythematosus.