Recently, The Journal of Precision Medicine featured a comprehensive article on immuno-oncology co-authored by Taconic Biosciences' Dr. Philip Dube, Dr. Ivan Gladwyn-Ng, and Dr. Janell Richardson. The article, titled 'Of Mice and Men: Strategies for humanization in preclinical immuno-oncology research', highlights three key methods for humanizing mice for immuno-oncology studies. These three methods are 1) the engraftment of a human immune system to an immunodeficient mouse, 2) the genetic replacement of mouse immune genes with corresponding human immune genes, known as humanized GEMs, and 3) the introduction of a specific microbiome to induce immune system development:
"Immuno-oncology (IO) research requires special models in which therapeutic targets within the human immune system are faithfully recapitulated. Researchers selecting appropriate in vivo models for preclinical applications face real challenges, including trade-offs on cost, availability, quality, and validated, predictable similarity to human systems of interest. And while the mouse model addresses several of the challenges, perhaps the biggest challenge of the mouse model is that the mouse immune system differs significantly from patients in both species-specific genetic variants and environmental factors."
To learn more about the specifics of each technique, read the full article at: theJournalofPrecisionMedicine.com
"Immuno-oncology (IO) research requires special models in which therapeutic targets within the human immune system are faithfully recapitulated. Researchers selecting appropriate in vivo models for preclinical applications face real challenges, including trade-offs on cost, availability, quality, and validated, predictable similarity to human systems of interest. And while the mouse model addresses several of the challenges, perhaps the biggest challenge of the mouse model is that the mouse immune system differs significantly from patients in both species-specific genetic variants and environmental factors."