Anyone seen THIS article yet? It's dated 2004, so it's fairly new.
It basically explains all the DIFFERENCES between mice and humans and is specifically directed at immunology!
Oh, boy.....when I read this one, I thought, we ARE in trouble now! HAH!
Take a gander at this when you get a chance. (Note the main differences of MHC, caspases, AND the fact that mice do not exhibit the same ion channel functions as humans do! Uh.....correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those things of PARTICULAR importance in any type of laboratory testing in MS? Oh, boy...........) There's more than that, but I couldn't stand reading any more of such "good news".
I don't even want to think about the implications.
Deb
I quote from the publication. (The full article can be found at http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/~cchughes/Pdf ... %20men.pdf
"....Both human and mouse EC express MHC class I. Most human EC in vivo also constitutively express MHC class II molecules, whereas mouse EC do not (80). Thus, human EC can present Ag to CD4+ T cells, as well as to CD8+ T cells. A major costimulatory molecule on human EC is CD58 (LFA-3), a ligand for CD2 (81). Mice do not have the gene for CD58, which arose by CD2 gene duplication after the two lineages split. In mice the CD2 ligand is CD48; however, the distribution of this molecule differs from that of CD58 in humans, and the two-dimensional affinity for the mouse CD2-CD48 interaction is 40- to 50-fold lower than that for human CD2-CD58 interactions (82). In addition, gene deletion and Ab blocking studies have shown that mouse T cell activation is much less dependent on CD2 interactions than is the case for human T cells. Human EC also express CD40 and the ICOS ligand GL-50, whereas murine EC do not (83, 84). ....
....A critical step in activation of a T cell is the generation of a sustained calcium flux. In human T cells the inward flow of calcium ions is balance by an outward flow of K+, mediated in large part by the Kv1.3 K+ channel. Inhibitors of this channel very specifically block T cell activation in vitro and are being pursued as novel immunosuppressive agents (64). However, in vivo evidence to support such a function is missing as mouse T cells do not express this channel (65)....."
EDIT: Ok, to be fair, they do end the article with this summary, which I have to admit is very true.
"....Summary
While it is hard to draw global conclusions about the significance of differences between mouse and human immunology, it is worth considering the possibility that any given response in a mouse may not occur in precisely the same way in humans. While caution in interpreting preclinical data obtained in mice is clearly warranted, we believe that with these caveats in mind, mice will continue to be the premiere in vivo model for human immunology and will be absolutely essential for continued progress in our understanding of immune system function in health and disease."
