Research

Humanized mice are the immunodeficient mice that support the engraftment of human cells and tissues. The advent of new immunodeficient strains like NOD/Scid IL2Rg_c^null (NSG) has revolutionized the ability to engraft human tissues in mice. Transplantation of human hematopoietic stem cells in these mice results in the development of human blood cells and functional human immune system.  Such ability brings this model on the top for studies of hematopoiesis, immunity, cancer of immune cells, and vaccine development. With the special modification these mice are capable of engrafting human hepatocytes also thus carrying two human types of tissues: blood and liver. Humanized mice with human immune system and liver have demonstrated outstanding potential for the investigation of the human-specific viral (HIV, HCV, HBV, EBV, dengue, alpha-viruses), bacterial (TB), parasitic (malaria) infections and cancer.

Applications

1. Humanized mice with human immune system and human liver for co-infection studies (HIV-1 related co-infections like hepatitis B and C),
2. Evaluation of vaccine candidates for broader range of pathogens by modifying NSG mouse background to accommodate human immune system with stronger human-like adaptive immune responses.
3. To study human-like drug metabolism and drug interactions by modifying mouse genetic backgrounds with human liver enzymes.

 In addition, the mice can be modeled for testing immunotherapeutics for cancer, diabetes and autoimmune diseases.