Some studies using animal models

Scientific consensus

2011-2012

This is a tiny selection of studies that use animal models published since 2011, with relevant quotes.

"Drug response in a genetically engineered mouse model of multiple myeloma is predictive of clinical efficacy"
"Other fields in psychiatry, most notably in the realms of addiction and anxiety, have prospered from results obtained in parallel studies using animalmodels and experimental human studies. Lessons to be learned from those models and recent genetic and cognitive insights in schizophrenia can be utilized to develop better animal and human models and, potentially, novel treatment strategies."
"The new, third generation AEDs, which have been discovered by testing of large numbers of investigational compounds in animalmodels over the last 20 years, have undoubtedly expanded the therapeutic options, in particular for those in need for a change in medical regimen"
"While no single animalmodel is entirely successful in reproducing the complete spectrum of pathological changes observed after injury, the validity of these animalmodels including face, construct, etiological and construct validity and how the models constitute theories about brain injury is addressed."
"These studies have revealed fundamental roles for these protein kinases in memory, behavior, and neuronal fate determination and provide insights into possible therapeutic interventions."
"Although no animal model captures human disease precisely, behaviours that recapitulate disease symptoms may be elicited and modulated by optogenetic methods, including behaviours that are relevant to anxiety, fear, depression, addiction, autism and parkinsonism."
"Breakthroughs in the last two decades using animal models have offered insights into the understanding of the PD (Parkinson Disease) disease process, its etiology, pathology, and molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, while cellular models have helped to identify specific events, animal models, both toxic and genetic, have replicated almost all of the hallmarks of PD and are useful for testing new neuroprotective or neurorestorative strategies."
Studies in chimpanzees have played a key role in the characterization of several fastidious hepatitis viruses, and we investigated the feasibility of such studies for the noroviruses. [...] This study establishes the chimpanzee as a viable animal model for the study of norovirus replication and immunity, and shows that NV VLP vaccines could induce protective homologous immunity even after extended periods of time.
Pten deletion in mice leads to Cowden syndrome-like phenotypes, and tissue-specific Pten deletion has provided clues to the role of PTEN mutation and loss in specific tumour types. Studying PTEN in the continuum of rare syndromes, common cancers and mouse models provides insight into the role of PTEN in tumorigenesis and will inform targeted drug development.
Murine models have made valuable contributions to our understanding of iron metabolism. Investigation of mice with inherited forms of anemia has led to the discovery of novel proteins involved in iron homeostasis. A growing number of murine models are being developed to investigate mitochondrial iron metabolism.
The greatest challenge in the biology of ageing is to now identify the mechanisms underlying increased healthy lifespan in these model organisms. Given that the elderly are making up an increasingly greater proportion of society, this focused approach in model organisms should help identify tractable interventions that can ultimately be translated to humans.
Genetically engineered mouse (GEM) models of ovarian cancer that closely recapitulate their human tumor counterparts may be invaluable tools for preclinical testing of novel therapeutics. [...] The studies show the utility of this GEM model of ovarian cancer for preclinical testing of novel PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling inhibitors and provide evidence for compensatory signaling, suggesting that multiple rather than single agent targeted therapy will be more efficacious for treating ovarian cancers with activated PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling.
Genetically engineered mouse models have significantly contributed to our understanding of cancer biology. They have proven to be useful in validating gene functions, identifying novel cancer genes and tumor biomarkers, gaining insight into the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying tumor initiation and multistage processes of tumorigenesis, and providing better clinical models in which to test novel therapeutic strategies. However, mice still have significant limitations in modeling human cancer, including species-specific differences and inaccurate recapitulation of de novo human tumor development. . Future challenges in mouse modeling include the generation of clinically relevant mouse models that recapitulate the molecular, cellular, and genomic events of human cancers and clinical response as well as the development of technologies that allow for efficient in vivo imaging and high-throughput screening in mice.

A standard week on Nature

Animal research is far from being "old", "outdated" or "unscientific". Here is how a standard week of publications on Nature (the leading scientific journal) looks like (including non-biology papers):

August 26, 2012

August 22, 2012

August 19, 2012

From 2000 to 2010

The biomedical importance of Marfan syndrome was recently underscored by the discovery that the underlying genetic lesion impairs both tissue integrity and transforming growth factor-beta regulation of cell behavior. This discovery has led to the successful implementation of the first pharmacological intervention in a connective-tissue disorder otherwise incurable by either gene-based or stem cell-based therapeutic strategies.

On the similarity between human and animals

"During the past four decades, a great explosion of information about the anatomy of the brains of nonhuman and especially nonmammalian vertebrates has taken place. One of the lessons to emerge from this wealth of new data has been the reversal of the nineteenth century view that a dramatic change in brain evolution occurred with the evolution of mammals ingeneral and humans in particular. In other words, once the powerful tools of modern neuroanatomy were applied to the brains of birds, fishes, reptiles, and amphibians, many of the same patterns of cell groups and their interconnections that were known to be present in mammals (including primates) were found to be present in nonmammalian vertebrates as well.

Thus, comparative neuroanatomists came to recognize that the evolution of the vertebrate central nervous system had been far more conservative than earlier investigators had realized.

To be sure, great differences in specialization of the brain exist between animals that have become adapted to very dif- ferent modes of existence. Indeed, those differences in form and function are what make the study of comparative neu- roanatomy and brain evolution so fascinating—a fascination that we hope to share with you. In spite of these differences, however, all vertebrate central nervous systems share a common organizational scheme so that someone who is famil- iar with the brain of any vertebrate will also be on familiar ground when first encountering the brain of any other species. Someone who has read this book and retained the general principles of brain anatomy and organization that it presents will have little difficulty reading a medical school textbook of human neuroanatomy because much of it will be familiar both

in overall conception and in many of the details."

(dalla prefazione a: Comparative Vertebrate Neuroanatomy: Evolution and Adaptation, Second Edition, ed.Wiley, 2005)

Other links

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22493784 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16585951 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12573440 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17404101 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15342376 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8738604

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