Therefore, analogous to the treatment of MRL‐lpr/lpr mice,17, 18, 19 we first immunized C57BL/6 mice with DNA‐met‐BSA without toxin.21 As already shown for the treatment with MOG, the immunization of C57BL/6 mice with DNA without Pertussis toxin leads to the development of EAE (similar to the development of SLE in MRL‐lpr/lpr mice), but with a very long delay (approximately 16‐20 days after immunization) until the manifestation of typical disease indicators.21 In the absence of toxin, this delay could be because of a reduced blood–brain barrier permeability for the DNA‐met‐BSA complex. This evidence concerns the gene MOG and systemic lupus erythematosus.