Table 1 An overview of animal models for translational studies for human immunology
From: Advanced model systems and tools for basic and translational human immunology
Model system | Advantages | Disadvantages | Suggested model use | Translatability | Environmental factors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conventional inbred, wildtype, and knock-out mice | • Consistency • Widely available • Cost • Easy to handle | • Poorly represent many human diseases | Fundamental immunology, pre-clinical work in some cases | + | Co-housing and diet may impact microbiota |
Next-generation mice (humanized through genetic and/or tissue engineering) | • More potential for translation to humans • Many immunologic reagents • Easy to handle | • More expensive than conventional mice • Partial humanization means murine components can be confounding factors | Single-organ infections, such as liver cancer, especially metastasis; individual aspects of an immune response, such as Ig or HLA loci | ++ | Similar factors to conventional mice |
Nonhuman primates (NHP) | • Human-like model • Many immunologic reagents • Limited MHC (certain species) | • Larger MHC than humans (most species) • Expensive • Ethical concerns | HIV, tuberculosis, many arthropod-borne viruses | ++/+++ | Typically not co-housed, but length in colony may impact response to perturbations |
Other animal models | May model particular diseases more accurately than mice or NHP | Reagents limited or non-existent | Non-immunologic disease models, transmission studies (e.g., ferrets for influenza transmission studies recapitulate many features of human infection) | Up to +++ | Many, as typically are not bred for research |