HLA-C and autoimmune disease: NOD mice develop diabetes spontaneously (typically, in about 60%–90% of females and 20%–40% of males between the age of 12 to 30 weeks) reproducing many aspects of the human autoimmune disease (e.g., presence of islet-specific autoantibodies, inflammation of pancreatic islets, and dependence on MHC alleles), but also with some important differences such as more severe insulitis and gender bias.