The wide utility of rabbits as models of human diseases

Abstract

Studies using the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus contributed to elucidating numerous fundamental aspects of antibody structure and diversification mechanisms and continue to be valuable for the development and testing of therapeutic humanized polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies. Additionally, during the last two decades, the use of the European rabbit as an animal model has been increasingly extended to many human diseases. This review documents the continuing wide utility of the rabbit as a reliable disease model for development of therapeutics and vaccines and studies of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying many human diseases. Examples include syphilis, tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS, acute hepatic failure and diseases caused by noroviruses, ocular herpes, and papillomaviruses. The use of rabbits for vaccine development studies, which began with Louis Pasteur’s rabies vaccine in 1881, continues today with targets that include the potentially blinding HSV-1 virus infection and HIV-AIDS. Additionally, two highly fatal viral diseases, rabbit hemorrhagic disease and myxomatosis, affect the European rabbit and provide unique models to understand co-evolution between a vertebrate host and viral pathogens.

Human Asymptomatic Epitope Peptide/CXCL10-Based Prime/Pull Vaccine Induces Herpes Simplex Virus-Specific Gamma Interferon-Positive CD107 + CD8 + T Cells That Infiltrate the Corneas and Trigeminal Ganglia of Humanized HLA Transgenic Rabbits and Protect against Ocular Herpes Challenge

“…Unfortunately, spontaneous reactivation of HSV-1 in mice is extremely rare, so the relevance of these findings to in vivo HSV-1 spontaneous reactivation cannot be determined (70). The rabbit ocular herpes model has been especially important for investigating viral reactivation and recurrent ocular disease (63,64,71). Unlike those of mouse eyes, but similar to those of human eyes, the surfaces of rabbit eyes are relatively immunologically isolated from systemic immune responses (63,72,73).…”

CRISPR-Generated Animal Models of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

“…Rabbits have a gestational duration of 31 days, the capacity to breed throughout the year, and have reduced space requirements than dogs or pigs [67]. Their intermediate size also provides the advantages that come with increased body size without much of the financial burden [76]. Sui et al (2018) recently developed a DMD rabbit model by co-injecting Cas9 mRNA and two gRNAs targeting DMD exon 51 into rabbit zygotes [75].…”

Rabbit Biomodels of Human Diseases Developed Using New Genomic Technologies. Crispr/Cas9 (Review)

“…Для изучения защитного иммунитета, индуцированного профилактической вакцинацией, например вирусом простого герпеса (HSV-1), гуманизированные HLA-трансгенные кролики во многих случаях -более корректная модель, чем HLA-трансгенные мыши [15]. На кроликах изучают инфекционные заболевания человека, включая СПИД (вызванный ВИЧ1), Т-лимфотропный вирус человека первого типа (HTLV-I), вирус простого герпеса типа 1, туберкулез, сифилис [65], исследуют острую печеночную недостаточность, заболевания, вызванные норовирусами, папилломавирусами [19].…”