Abstract
The global prevalence of diabetes mellitus and other metabolic diseases is rapidly increasing. Animal models play pivotal roles in unravelling disease mechanisms and developing and testing therapeutic strategies. Rodents are the most widely used animal models but may have limitations in their resemblance to human disease mechanisms and phenotypes. Findings in rodent models are consequently often difficult to extrapolate to human clinical trials. To overcome this ‘translational gap’, we and other groups are developing porcine disease models. Pigs share many anatomical and physiological traits with humans and thus hold great promise as translational animal models. Importantly, the toolbox for genetic engineering of pigs is rapidly expanding. Human disease mechanisms and targets can therefore be reproduced in pigs on a molecular level, resulting in precise and predictive porcine (PPP) models. In this short review, we summarize our work on the development of genetically (pre)diabetic pig models and how they have been used to study disease mechanisms and test therapeutic strategies. This includes the generation of reporter pigs for studying beta-cell maturation and physiology. Furthermore, genetically engineered pigs are promising donors of pancreatic islets for xenotransplantation. In summary, genetically tailored pig models have become an important link in the chain of translational diabetes and metabolic research.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus (DM), which is characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, has a high prevalence worldwide
In comparison to other large animal species used in diabetes research, such as dogs and non-human primates, pigs have the advantage of better ethical acceptance, relatively low-cost reproduction and maintenance, and the existence of well-established methods for genetic modification
We summarize our own experiences with genetically engineered pigs used as models for diabetes and metabolic research or as donors for islet xenotransplantation
Summary
Diabetes mellitus (DM), which is characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, has a high prevalence worldwide. Translational diabetes research is dedicated to improving and developing new diagnostic and therapeutic concepts In this context, pigs are promising animal models due to many anatomical and physiological similarities with humans (Figure 1; reviewed in Aigner et al, 2010; Renner et al, 2016b). In comparison to other large animal species used in diabetes research, such as dogs and non-human primates (reviewed in Kleinert et al, 2018; Ludwig et al, 2020), pigs have the advantage of better ethical acceptance, relatively low-cost reproduction and maintenance, and the existence of well-established methods for genetic modification (reviewed in Renner et al, 2016b). Feeding pigs with high-fat/high-energy diet results in obesity and insulin resistance (Renner et al, 2018), but rarely in clinical diabetes without further interventions
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