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Review
. 2018 Apr;24(2):185-191.
doi: 10.1007/s13365-017-0567-3. Epub 2017 Aug 22.

Humanized mice: models for evaluating NeuroHIV and cure strategies

Jenna B Honeycutt  1 , J Victor Garcia  2
Affiliations
Review

Humanized mice: models for evaluating NeuroHIV and cure strategies

Jenna B Honeycutt et al. J Neurovirol. 2018 Apr.

Abstract

While the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic was initially characterized by a high prevalence of severe and widespread neurological pathologies, the development of better treatments to suppress viremia over years and even decades has mitigated many of the severe neurological pathologies previously observed. Despite effective treatment, mild neurocognitive impairment and premature cognitive aging are observed in HIV-infected individuals, suggesting a changing but ongoing role of HIV infection in the central nervous system (CNS). Although current therapies are effective in suppressing viremia, they are not curative and patients must remain on life-long treatment or risk recrudescence of virus. Important for the development and evaluation of a cure for HIV will be animal models that recapitulate critical aspects of infection in vivo. In the following, we seek to summarize some of the recent developments in humanized mouse models and their usefulness in modeling HIV infection of the CNS and HIV cure strategies.

Keywords: Antiretroviral therapy (ART); CNS; HIV/AIDS; Humanized mice; NeuroHIV.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome. JBH no conflict of interest. JVG no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:. Schematic of humanized mouse models for evaluating NeuroHIV infection and/or cure strategies.
The name of each model is followed by the human cells/tissues and immunodeficient mouse strains used in the generation of each type of humanized mouse. Brief description of advantages and disadvantages of each model are listed.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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