Enhanced ACE2 humanized rodent models to make COVID-19 research more translatable

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected more than 228 million individuals and claimed 4.69 million lives as of Sept 21, 2021. SARS-CoV-2 infects host cells by the binding of its spike protein to the cellular surface protein angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Unlike human ACE2, mouse and rat Ace2 proteins cannot efficiently mediate the SARS-CoV-2 infection. Therefore, wild type mice and rats cannot be used for modeling the disease. Currently, most widely used mouse models for COVID-19 research are random transgenic models that artificially express human ACE2 under the control of a non-specific promoter. While most of these mice show some COVID-19 phenotypes, none of those transgenic models fully recapitulate the disease course observed in COVID-19 patients. This is because the transgene promoter, integration site, and copy number in those models all differ from those of mouse Ace2 gene, and furthermore, the mouse endogenous Ace2 is still expressed in those models. In this his webinar, Dr.Zhao will discuss current available hACE2 models including a couple of Envigo's new hACE2 knockin mouse and rat models.

 

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