Vol. 1 No. 3 (2025): Humanization of Laboratory Mice for HIV Research: Current Methods and Perspectives

Relevance of the Topic
Studying the pathogenesis of HIV infection and developing novel therapeutic strategies require adequate preclinical
models that replicate key aspects of viral interaction with the human immune system. Traditional models,
such as primates or transgenic animals, face significant limitations, including high costs, ethical concerns,
and insufficient accuracy in mimicking human immune responses (Dash PK et al., 2021, Bennett MS, Akkina R,
2013). In this context, humanized mice, created by transplanting human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) or tissues
into immunodeficient mice, have emerged as revolutionary tools. These models enable the study of HIV
infection in vivo, including latent reservoirs, immune responses, and the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy (ART)
(Zhang C et al., 2023, Baroncini L et al., 2023).