Ethics of Research involving animals
The use of animals in the study of human disease
Introduction
6.1 In this chapter, we consider some of the principles and rationales of using animals as disease models. We examine in more detail two areas of recent medical advance: new therapeutic strategies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), which also illustrates the contribution and use of non-animal models of disease, and the development of the scientific understanding of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), including bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and variant Creutzfeld–Jakob disease (vCJD). We also describe the role of animal research in the implementation of public health policies for protecting humans from exposure to TSE agents. These examples are followed by brief discussions of historically important animal disease models for hepatitis C and polio. We then consider two cases of diseases that have proved difficult to treat and cure, despite the availability of animal models: Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and cancers.
Footnotes1 Examples include diseases in which high levels of antibodies and microbial or tissue antigens form immune complexes (a
complex of antigen and antibodies in the blood circulation). These complexes can activate powerful inflammatory systems (the
complement or coagulation cascades) that recruit different molecular and cellular systems into the process of pathogenesis.
Effects include widespread damage to blood vessels (vasculitis), the kidney (nephritis), skin (dermatitis) or brain (meningitis).
2 The Nobel Foundation (1967) Nobel Lectures, Physiology or Medicine 1901–1921 (Amsterdam: Elsevier Publishing Company), see
Robert Koch – Biography, available at: http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureates/1905/koch-bio.html. Accessed on: 12 Apr 2005.