Abstract
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is commonly attributed as a major cause of chronic hepatotropic diseases, such as, steatosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. As HCV infects only humans and primates, its narrow host tropism hampers in vivo studies of HCV-mammalian host interactions and the development of effective therapeutics and vaccines. In this context, we will focus our discussion on humanized mice in HCV research. Here, these humanized mice are defined as animal models that encompass either only human hepatocytes or both human liver and immune cells. Aspects related to immunopathogenesis, anti-viral interventions, drug testing and perspectives of these models for future HCV research will be discussed.
Highlights
First identified in 1989, hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus belonging to the genus Hepacivirus of family Flaviviridae [1,2]
Humanized mouse models with chimeric human liver or both human immune system and hepatocytes are imperative for the characterization of HCV infection and development of therapeutics and vaccines [18,19,20,21,66,68]
Even though current models of humanized mice are able to support HCV infection, some limitations that need to be improved on include; first, humanization levels of hepatocytes and immune cells can be further enhanced in humanized mice
Summary
First identified in 1989, hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus belonging to the genus Hepacivirus of family Flaviviridae [1,2]. A spectrum of in vitro and in vivo models including; cell culture, tree shrew, zebrafish, chimpanzee and viral protein transgenic mouse models have been used to study HCV [4]. Existing limitations and the need to further our understanding of HCV viral immunopathogenesis and treatments; have led scientists to establish HCV infected humanized mouse models [18,19,20,21]. In this context, humanized mice are defined as mice engrafted with only human hepatocytes or with human immune system and hepatocytes. We provide an overview of the currently available humanized mouse models that have proven valuable for the study of HCV and discuss their main benefits and weaknesses
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