By genetic manipulation of mice to prevent B cells from forming GCs (CD23CreBcl6flox mice), it has been found across three Tlr7-dependent lupus mouse models – kika, 564 Igi and imiquimod-induced lupus - that the absence of GC does not alleviate the autoimmune phenotype (Brown et al., 2022;Voss et al., 2022). The gene discussed is TLR7; the disease is systemic lupus erythematosus.