Département de Biologie du Développement, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Mol Genet Genomics. 2011 Jul;286(1):1-20. doi: 10.1007/s00438-011-0627-y. Epub 2011 May 6.
With the advances in molecular genetics, animal models of human diseases are becoming more numerous and more refined every year. Despite this, one must recognize that they generally do not faithfully and comprehensively mimic the homologous human disease. Faced with these imperfections, some geneticists believe that these models are of little value, while for others, on the contrary, they are important tools. We agree with this second statement, and in this review, we examine the reasons that may explain the observed differences and suggest means to circumvent or even exploit them. Our opinion is that animal models should be regarded more as tools capable of answering specific questions rather than mere replicas, at a smaller scale, of a given human disease. Far from disappointing they are probably called for a promising future.
随着分子遗传学的进步，每年都有越来越多的人类疾病动物模型被开发出来，而且这些模型也变得越来越精细。尽管如此，人们必须认识到，这些动物模型通常并不能忠实地全面模拟同源人类疾病。面对这些不完美之处，一些遗传学家认为这些模型价值不大，而另一些遗传学家则认为它们是重要的工具。我们同意后一种观点，在这篇综述中，我们探讨了可能解释观察到的差异的原因，并提出了克服甚至利用这些差异的方法。我们认为，动物模型应该被视为能够回答特定问题的工具，而不仅仅是给定人类疾病的小规模复制品。它们并没有令人失望，而是可能预示着一个充满希望的未来。
