ABSTRACT
Outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases pose a serious threat to public health security, human health and economic development. After an outbreak, an animal model for an emerging infectious disease is urgently needed for studying the etiology, host immune mechanisms and pathology of the disease, evaluating the efficiency of vaccines or drugs against infection, and minimizing the time available for animal model development, which is usually hindered by the nonsusceptibility of common laboratory animals to human pathogens. Thus, we summarize the technologies and methods that induce animal susceptibility to human pathogens, which include viral receptor humanization, pathogen-targeted tissue humanization, immunodeficiency induction and screening for naturally susceptible animal species. Furthermore, the advantages and deficiencies of animal models developed using each method were analyzed, and these will guide the selection of susceptible animals and potentially reduce the time needed to develop animal models during epidemics.
Subject(s)
Communicable Diseases, Emerging , Vaccines , Animals , Humans , Communicable Diseases, Emerging/epidemiology , Disease Outbreaks/prevention & control , Public Health , Models, Animal , Disease SusceptibilityABSTRACT
The adaptive immune response induced by SARS-CoV-2 plays a key role in the antiviral process and can protect the body from the threat of infection for a certain period of time. However, owing to the limitations of clinical studies, the antiviral mechanisms, protective thresholds, and persistence of the immune memory of adaptive immune responses remain unclear. This review summarizes existing research models for SARS-CoV-2 and elaborates on the advantages of animal models in simulating the clinical symptoms of COVID-19 in humans. In addition, we systematically summarize the research progress on the SARS-CoV-2 adaptive immune response and the remaining key issues, as well as the application and prospects of animal models in this field. This paper provides direction for in-depth analysis of the anti-SARS-CoV-2 mechanism of the adaptive immune response and lays the foundation for the development and application of vaccines and drugs.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , SARS-CoV-2 , Adaptive Immunity , Animals , Antiviral Agents/therapeutic use , Humans , Models, AnimalABSTRACT
Although cancer has been associated with COVID-19 risk and mortality in hospital-based studies, few population-based studies have been reported. Utilizing data from the UK Biobank (UKB), a population-based prospective cohort, we formally tested the association of over 44 different types of cancer with COVID-19 infection and mortality among 7,661 subjects who were tested by June 17, 2020. Compared to non-cancer subjects, cancer subjects (N=1,521) had significantly lower overall risk for COVID-19 infection [odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.79 (0.68-0.92), P=2.60E-03]. However, a trend of higher risk for COVID-19 mortality was found among 256 COVID-19 positive cancer patients, especially for hematologic cancers such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma [3.82 (1.17-12.01), P=0.02]. In cancer patients, while few demographic, lifestyle, genetic and comorbidity factors predicted risk for COVID-19 infection, older age, male sex, heart disease and hypertension significantly predicted COVID-19 mortality. The lower risk for COVID-19 infection is likely due to extra caution in COVID-19 prevention and more testing among cancer patients, an encouraging finding that demonstrates the feasibility of intervention. These results, if confirmed in future releases of UKB data and other independent populations, may provide guidance for COVID-19 prevention and treatment among cancer patients.
Subject(s)
Lymphoma , Neoplasms , Hypertension , COVID-19 , Heart DiseasesABSTRACT
We tested the hypothesis that patients with sickle cell trait (SCT), a common condition in individuals of African descent, have increased risk and mortality for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the UK Biobank. By June 17, 2020, 1,550 of 7,668 (20%) tested subjects were positive for COVID-19, including 298 (19%) deaths. Blacks had higher rates than Whites for COVID-19 infections (79/222=36% vs. 1,342/7,010=19%, P=1.28x10-9). Among Blacks, SCT carriers did not have higher infection rates (5/15=33%) than non-SCT carriers (74/207=36%), P=1.00. However, SCT carriers had a trend of higher death rates (2/5=40%) than non-SCT carriers (12/74=16%), although not statistically significant (P =0.21).