Humanized mouse models of rheumatoid arthritis for studies on immunopathogenesis and preclinical testing of cell-based therapies

Katina Schinnerling*, Carlos Rosas, Lilian Soto, Ranjeny Thomas, Juan Carlos Aguillón

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

58 Scopus citations

Abstract

Rodent models of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have been used over decades to study the immunopathogenesis of the disease and to explore intervention strategies. Nevertheless, mouse models of RA reach their limit when it comes to testing of new therapeutic approaches such as cell-based therapies. Differences between the human and the murine immune system make it difficult to draw reliable conclusions about the success of immunotherapies. To overcome this issue, humanized mouse models have been established that mimic components of the human immune system in mice. Two main strategies have been pursued for humanization: the introduction of human transgenes such as human leukocyte antigen molecules or specific T cell receptors, and the generation of mouse/human chimera by transferring human cells or tissues into immunodeficient mice. Recently, both approaches have been combined to achieve more sophisticated humanized models of autoimmune diseases. This review discusses limitations of conventional mouse models of RA-like disease and provides a closer look into studies in humanized mice exploring their usefulness and necessity as preclinical models for testing of cell-based therapies in autoimmune diseases such as RA.

Original languageEnglish
Article number203
JournalFrontiers in Immunology
Volume10
Issue numberFEB
DOIs
StatePublished - 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2019 Schinnerling, Rosas, Soto, Thomas and Aguillón. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Immunology and Allergy
  • Immunology

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