Bat-mouse bone marrow chimera: a novel animal model for dissecting the uniqueness of the bat immune system

Yong, Kylie Su Mei; Ng, Justin Han Jia; Her, Zhisheng; Hey, Ying Ying; Tan, Sue Yee; Tan, Wilson Wei Sheng; Irac, Sergio Erdal; Liu, Min; Chan, Xue Ying; Gunawan, Merry; Foo, Randy Jee Hiang; Low, Dolyce Hong Wen; Mendenhall, Ian Hewitt; Chionh, Yok Teng; Dutertre, Charles-Antoine; Chen, Qingfeng; Wang, Lin-Fa

Over the last decade, there has been a wave of high-impact research carried out on cross-species engraftment, such as, the stable reconstitution of human immune system in immunodeficient mice (humanized mouse models) 25, 26 . The development of immunodeficient mice has provided the opportunity to utilize small animal models for the study of many in vivo human-specific immune responses 27 . The establishment of a targeted mutation in the IL-2 receptor common gamma chain gene (IL-2Rγ −/− ) in mice already deficient in T and B cells led to a breakthrough in the ability to engraft hematopoietic stem cells, as well as functional human lymphoid cells and tissues 28 , effectively creating human immune systems within an immunodeficient mice 24, 29, 30 . These humanized mice are becoming increasingly important as pre-clinical models for a range of studies, especially research concerning human-specific immune responses to infectious agents and drugs 28, 30, 31 .