Animal Modeling of Infectious Diseases

Abstract

Animal models have been, and continue to be, viable tools for investigating crucial scientific issues related to the pathogenesis of infectious diseases and serve as living platforms for testing novel therapeutics and/or vaccines. The use of animal models in studying infectious diseases is not only founded on the substantially shared biology of most mammals but also on the fact that many human infections are zoonotic, affecting a range of animal species. However, it is noticeable that the results retrieved from animal studies are not always reproducible in studies conducted on humans. The reliability of correlating data from animal models and translating them to human disease succeeds only in well-designed models where their relevance to the investigated human disease is well recognized. Preferable animal models respond similarly to the infectious agent as in humans, where the host’s interaction with the pathogen creates the same immunological and molecular environment. Several animal models have been designed to investigate the different aspects of the infectious process, such as biology, immunology, and pathogenesis. The murine model has been chosen for most studies investigating infectious diseases. Despite the limitations of the current animal models, remarkable progress has been achieved using these models, including a better understanding of host immune responses to infection, microbiome–pathogen interactions, the molecular mechanisms underlying tissue damage as well as validation of novel therapeutics and vaccine development.