Animal models for SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and pathology

ABSTRACT

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) is the etiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. Current variants including Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Lambda increase the capacity of infection and transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2, which might disable the in‐used therapies and vaccines. The COVID‐19 has now put an enormous strain on health care system all over the world. Therefore, the development of animal models that can capture characteristics and immune responses observed in COVID‐19 patients is urgently needed. Appropriate models could accelerate the testing of therapeutic drugs and vaccines against SARS‐CoV‐2. In this review, we aim to summarize the current animal models for SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, including mice, hamsters, nonhuman primates, and ferrets, and discuss the details of transmission, pathology, and immunology induced by SARS‐CoV‐2 in these animal models. We hope this could throw light to the increased usefulness in fundamental studies of COVID‐19 and the preclinical analysis of vaccines and therapeutic agents. Animal models that recapitulate characteristics and immune responses observed in COVID‐19 patients are urgently needed. These animal models such as mouse, hamster, nonhuman primate, and ferret, have provided robust platforms for studying the transmission, pathogenesis, and immunology induced by SARS‐CoV‐2, and for evaluating the immunomodulatory and antiviral drugs and vaccines against COVID‐19.