{"id":237271,"date":"2020-08-22T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-22T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=237271"},"modified":"2020-08-22T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-22T10:00:00","slug":"wild-mice-resemble-humans-more-than-lab-mice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/wild-mice-resemble-humans-more-than-lab-mice\/","title":{"rendered":"Wild mice resemble humans more than lab mice – and that’s a big deal for those working on a Corona vaccine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Researchers have traditionally relied on results from experiments carried out on lab mice. Since they are born and bred in controlled conditions, the results from these experiments are ideal in the sense that they are verifiable and replicable. But it is precisely these qualities that limit the usefulness of the results. Their genetic makeup and immune systems do not replicate those of wild mice, which more closely resemble humans. Nor do the pristine lab conditions bear much resemblance to naturally occurring environments in the wild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To correct this, Stephan Rosshart<\/a> from the University Medical Center in Freiburg<\/a>, Germany, introduced wild mice into labs to create more realistic conditions, as reported in the German magazine Spiegel<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his research work in the U.S. at the National Institutes of Health<\/a>, Rosshart set out peanut-butter baited live traps in barns to catch wild mice. Lab mice embryos were then implanted into wild females who passed on their immune system to their offspring. Subsequent generations of mice also shared this more natural immune system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On mice and men<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Rosshart went on to show that the test results from these wild mice were more accurate than those originating from the usual lab strain. In two instances, he and his team proved that tests with lab mice would have led to incorrect conclusions. One case involved tests with sepsis and the other an autoimmune disease. In lab mice, the medicine being tested improved their condition. In humans, it would have been not just ineffective but would have led to even more severe symptoms. In contrast, in the wild mice the symptoms more closely resembled those of humans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team has also discovered that the wild mice are more resistant to viruses than the lab variety. But why? The researchers aim to discover the mechanisms behind how the immune system deals with viral infections. Some viruses do not affect all wild mice; they seem to be immune. \u201cThe natural differences in the animals\u2019 immune systems remain once they are in the lab,\u201d says Rosshart. He sees an advantage in this. \u201cHumans are also different.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Graphic: V. Altounian, Science magazine<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The vaccine from the barnyard<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The current global pandemic makes it urgent that science take advantage of the great biological diversity available in nature. To accomplish this, more types of animals should be researched under a wider range of environmental conditions. Dr. Andrew Flies<\/a> from the Menzies Institute for Medical Research at the University of Tasmania, Australia, calls for research on a greater variety of animals \u2013 outside the lab. In an article in Science<\/a> magazine, he recalls that the smallpox vaccine was developed by simply observing that milkmaids who got cowpox, a disease similar to smallpox, were subsequently immune to the much deadlier disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The smallpox vaccine was invented based on observations that milkmaids who had contracted cowpox, a similar but milder disease, were immune to the deadlier affliction
Graphic – public domain, on the Museum of Healthcare, Canada<\/a> website<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost emerging infectious diseases originate in domestic and wild animals and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a stark reminder of the need to think more holistically about the health of humans and animals,\u201d says Flies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe immune system has evolved over millions of years,\u201d Flies continues. No model organism can completely replicate another species, therefore \u201cthe comparison of DNA and protein sequences across the tree of life is a straightforward and cost-effective means to select the most appropriate animal models for the question at hand.\u201d The increased number of fully sequenced genomes now allows rapid comparison of gene networks across more than 200 species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next – a vaccine from the desert or savannah?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The movement to incorporate the \u201cwild side\u201d into research goes far beyond adding wild mice to a laboratory situation. Birds, reptiles, and hyenas have been studied and found to yield information that may give important immunological clues to finding ways to combat pathogens in humans. Nanobodies, fragments of antibodies, that are easier to produce than those that originate from mice and humans and could also be used in the fight against COVID-19, for example. As reported in Nature<\/a>, these were discovered by chance in camels, not exactly an animal that one would associate with lab work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Andrew Flies and Hendrix the Hyena<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Flies is a member of the Wild and Comparative Immunology Consortium<\/a>, an organization dedicated to studying immunology in new species and real-world environments, known as rewilding. Its recent conference in Hobart, located in the Australian island state of Tasmania, brought scientists together to drive this movement forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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