Peer-review started: June 24, 2021
First decision: July 31, 2021
Revised: August 22, 2021
Accepted: November 24, 2021
Article in press: November 24, 2021
Published online: January 25, 2022
There is a critical need to develop animal models to alleviate vaccine and drug development difficulties against zoonotic viral infections. The coronavirus family, which includes severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, crossed the species barrier and infected humans, causing a global outbreak in the 21st century. Because humans do not have pre-existing immunity against these viral infections and with ethics governing clinical trials, animal models are therefore being used in clinical studies to facilitate drug discovery and testing efficacy of vaccines. The ideal animal models should reflect the viral replication, clinical signs, and pathological responses observed in humans. Different animal species should be tested to establish an appropriate animal model to study the disease pathology, transmission and evaluation of novel vaccine and drug candidates to treat coronavirus disease 2019. In this context, the present review summarizes the recent progress in developing animal models for these two pathogenic viruses and highlights the utility of these models in studying SARS-associated coronavirus diseases.
Core tip: In this review we discuss the importance of various animal models of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 1 (SARS-CoV-1). SARS-CoV-2 is the causal agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a public health emergency of concern. Due to the inadequate knowledge in analyzing the mode of action of COVID-19 infection, we must be thoroughly familiarized with the available animal models. Therefore, we discuss the pros and cons of various animal models, and emphasize the use of humanized mice to study the biology of viral diseases because it is convenient to mimic the human immune system in humanized mice.