Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
The lack of access to laboratories with high biosafety containment levels and human ACE2-expressing mouse strains has impeded the progress of drugs and vaccines research for COVID-19. Furthermore, many immune modulators such as Anakinra and Tocilizumab are human specific and do not cross react with murine receptors. As such, there is a need to model Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) in humanized mice as an alternative model for lung fibrosis, inflammation and cytokine release syndrome (CRS). These acute clinical features are commonly exhibited by COVID-19 patients and can be recapitulated in humanized mice using ARDS-causing agents such as Lipopolysaccharides (LPS), Bleomycin and Influenza A (H1N1) virus.
Figure: Humanized mice infected with Influenza A (H1N1/A/PR/8/34) virus exhibit severe body weight loss and lung inflammation.
(A) Mice were inoculated with 100pfu, 500pfu and 1000pfu of Influenza A virus (H1N1/A/PR/8/34) for 14 days and observed for weight loss. (B) Human leucocyte count and distribution of human T cells in BALF (bronchoalveolar lavage fluid. (C) Histopathological assessment of lungs. Data are presented as mean ± SD.
Data
Features of Humanized Mouse Model for H1N1-induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
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