The pig: a model for human infectious diseases

Abstract

An animal model to study human infectious diseases should accurately reproduce the various aspects of disease. Domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) are closely related to humans in terms of anatomy, genetics and physiology, and represent an excellent animal model to study various microbial infectious diseases. Indeed, experiments in pigs are much more likely to be predictive of therapeutic treatments in humans than experiments in rodents. In this review, we highlight the numerous advantages of the pig model for infectious disease research and vaccine development and document a few examples of human microbial infectious diseases for which the use of pigs as animal models has contributed to the acquisition of new knowledge to improve both animal and human health.

Effect of deoxynivalenol on the levels of toll-like receptors 2 and 9 and their mRNA expression in enterocytes in the porcine large intestine: a preliminary study

“…The human digestive system and the porcine gastrointestinal tract are characterized by significant anatomical and immunological similarities; therefore, the results of an experiment performed on a porcine model can be extrapolated to humans (Patterson et al 2008, Meurens et al 2012). …”

Aflatoxins of type B and G affect porcine dendritic cell maturationin vitro

“…To mimic the natural exposure of the immune system to AF, we prepared a mixture of naturally-occurring levels of AFB 1 , AFB 2 , AFG 1 , and AFG 2 (mAF) and examined their impact on function of swine monocyte-derived DC (MoDC). Swine were used here, as pigs represent an important economically relevant animal model, whose immune system closely resembles that of humans (Dawson et al, 2013;Fairbairn et al, 2011;Meurens et al, 2012).…”

Dose Effects of LAB on Modulation of Rotavirus Vaccine Induced Immune Responses

“…The gnotobiotic pig model is a valuable animal model for study of probiotic-virus-host interaction because of the many similarities between human and porcine intestinal physiology and mucosal immune system (Meurens et al, 2012). The gnotobiotic status prevents confounding factors from commensal microflora that are present in conventionally reared animals or in humans.…”