Table 5.

Bacterial species that have been mechanistically studied in mouse lupus.

Bacterial species	Effects on Lupus
Staphylococcus aureus	Subcutaneous infection of MRL/lpr worsens arthritis [127]; accidental introduction of S. aureus into MRL/lpr colony results in worse arthritis [128]
S. aureus-derived superantigen SEB	Chronic exposure of HLA-DQ8 transgenic mice to SEB results in lupus development [126]; bi-weekly intravenous injection of SEB into MRL/lpr mice reduces disease [131]; single injection of SEB into young pre-diseased MRL/lpr mice prevents disease [132]; intraperitoneal injection of SEB into MRL/lpr mice that were neonatally tolerized to this superantigen results in dramatically worse lupus disease symptoms [133]
Salmonella enterica	Intravenous injection of attenuated Salmonella into 2-month pre-diseased NZBWF1 mice results in reduced proteinuria and reduced anti-DNA autoantibody [142]; four intraperitoneal infections of virulent Salmonella into young pre-diseased NZBWF1 mice results in increased autoantibody titers [143]
Escherichia coli	Four intraperitoneal infections of E. coli into young pre-diseased NZBWF1 mice results in increased autoantibody titers [143]
Streptococcus pneumoniae	No direct studies on S. pneumoniae in lupus-prone strains of mice
Mycobacterium leprae	MRL/lpr lupus-prone mice were shown to be more susceptible to M. leprae footpad infection than non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice [113], but the effects of the infection on lupus symptoms were not tested. Injection of Hsp65 protein derived from M. leprae accelerates autoimmunity and increases mortality in NZBWF1 lupus-prone mice [166]