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Ehud Ilan, Joseph Arazi, Ofer Nussbaum, Arie Zauberman, Rachel Eren, Ido Lubin, Lewis Neville, Ofer Ben-Moshe, Alberto Kischitzky, Amir Litchi, Ido Margalit, Judith Gopher, Samir Mounir, Weizhong Cai, Nili Daudi, Ahamed Eid, Oded Jurim, Abraham Czerniak, Eithan Galun, Shlomo Dagan, The Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)–Trimera Mouse: A Model for Evaluation of Agents against HCV, The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 185, Issue 2, 15 January 2002, Pages 153–161, https://doi.org/10.1086/338266
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Abstract
The lack of small-animal models that are suitable for evaluation of agents used to treat infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) severely hinders the assessment of potential new therapies for the disease. This study created such a model, termed the “HCV-Trimera” model. The HCV-Trimera model was developed by using lethally irradiated mice, reconstituted with SCID mouse bone marrow cells, in which human liver fragments infected ex vivo with HCV had been transplanted. Viremia (positive-strand HCV RNA levels) in HCV-Trimera mice peaked at approximately day 18 after liver transplantation, and an infection rate of 85% was reached. Viral replication in liver grafts was evidenced by the presence of specific negative-strand HCV RNA. The usefulness of this model for evaluation of anti-HCV agents was demonstrated by the ability of a small molecule (an HCV internal ribosomal entry site inhibitor) and an anti-HCV human monoclonal antibody (HCV ABXTL68) to reduce virus loads in HCV-Trimera mice in a dose-dependent manner