Mouse Model Findings and the Future of Human Tissue in Disease Research

Biopreservation and Biobanking queried our experts on the following question: Will recent findings1 questioning whether mouse models are appropriate for human inflammatory diseases have a major impact on the need for quality human tissue in research?

Biomedical research typically involves many different models—from evaluating how molecules react in an aqueous solution to studying the same molecules in a living human. Each model should be matched to the questions being asked and to the stage of the research (i.e., early, intermediate, or advanced). Research should be dynamic with orderly transitions from observations on molecules and cell lines, moving to animal models, and ultimately to living humans. Of note, the study of biological factors in animal and human cell lines or mice or other animals can be controlled much more carefully than the same factors in a human. Research performed in mice is much less costly and permits refining the question(s) and experimental approaches prior to studies involving humans.

It is not surprising that some genetic changes in the mouse do not adequately represent analogous genetic changes in man; the important issue is what can be learned from the mouse that leads to increased understanding of human biology or human diseases. Humans are much less genetically uniform than inbred animals and human genetic variability presents possible complications in interpretation of human results (e.g., molecular differences in a disease secondary to race) and in humans, there is a much greater chance of bias in research. The subject study1 indicates that mice may not be an adequate model in which to study the genetics of inflammatory disease of humans; however, mice have helped in the understanding of the human immune system and other studies in mice may be more important to research on other human diseases. In general, I think mice are useful for understanding aspects of some human diseases, but not others.

My view is that this study will not decrease the use of mice in research; it just indicates that caution should be taken before results in mice or other animal models are translated to humans without experimental confirmation in human tissues. Will this observation lead to an increase in the needs for high quality human tissues? Probably not in the “need” for human tissues because there has always been a great need for high quality human tissues to study human diseases and such needs will continue into the foreseeable future. Thus there should be no change in the current needs for human tissues, only a confirmation that use of high quality human tissues is always an important major step in the translation of cell line or animal data to the living human.