Idiopathic membranous nephropathy (IMN) is one of the main causes of adult nephrotic syndrome. A subset of untreated or inadequately treated patients eventually progress to end-stage renal disease (ESRD), posing a significant clinical challenge. Although the discovery of novel podocyte target antigens has deepened our understanding of IMN pathogenesis, the precise molecular mechanisms remain incompletely elucidated, and effective targeted therapies are still lacking. Animal models play an irreplaceable role in uncovering IMN pathogenesis and developing effective therapies. In recent years, with a deeper understanding of IMN, researchers have successfully established various animal models, including Heymann nephritis (HN), cationic bovine serum albumin (C-BSA), Aminopeptidase A (APA), thrombospondin type 1 domain-containing 7A (THSD7A)-related, and phospholipase A2 receptor (PLA2R)-related IMN models. These models have substantially advanced the simulation of pathological human IMN features. Notably, the development of human PLA2R1-related animal models marks a landmark breakthrough in this field, as these models are the first to recapitulate the immunopathological processes driven by a key human autoantigen in experimental animals. However, current animal models have their own limitations and still cannot fully replicate the complex pathological process of human IMN. This review summarizes recent progress in animal IMN models, analyzes their methods, pathological features, strengths, and limitations, and discusses future directions. Future model development should integrate advanced multi-omics and artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve greater accessibility and precision, enabling the construction of multidimensional models encompassing genetics, environment, and immunity, thereby enabling a leap from "disease simulation" to "personalized treatment".
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a typical inflammatory bowel disease requiring long-term management. Although fecal calprotectin (FC) is widely employed for assessing disease activity, it is still considered insufficient as a standalone tool. New biomarkers are needed to better predict risk and comprehensively reflect biological pathways. This study aimed to identify potential fecal biomarkers to monitor disease activity in UC.
C57BL/6J mice were exposed to dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) treatment for 7 days. Feces were collected and subjected to proteomic analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Mouse colon tissues were subjected to histopathological and immunofluorescence analyses. The correlations between the selected fecal proteins and disease severity were evaluated and compared with FC.
Proteomic analysis revealed increases in fecal complement component 3 (C3) and fibronectin (FN) in the DSS group. Next, we measured fecal C3 and FN levels in mice using ELISA. Significant elevation in C3 and FN levels was observed as early as day 1 after DSS treatment, preceding the increase in FC. Both fecal C3 and FN demonstrated significant correlations with disease activity, with C3 exhibiting a stronger correlation than FC. Using immunofluorescence, we observed distinct C3 and FN expressions in both the colonic tissues and the intestinal lumen.
These findings demonstrate that fecal C3 and FN are promising candidate biomarkers for monitoring UC disease activity, and their utility requires further validation in other colitis models and human cohorts.
Transplantation of insulin-producing cells derived from pluripotent stem cells represents a highly promising approach for the radical treatment of type 1 diabetes (T1D). Informed by a comprehensive understanding of fetal pancreatic development, directed differentiation protocol for generating pancreatic β cells from pluripotent stem cells has been established and has achieved considerable advances, enabling the production of mature, fully functional β cells that closely recapitulate the characteristics of native pancreatic β cells. Preclinical studies have shown that the transplantation of stem cell-derived islets (SC-islets) reverses hyperglycemia in both mouse and nonhuman primate models, with a favorable safety profile. Early-phase clinical trials have further corroborated the safety and efficacy of this approach, a subset of patients with long-standing T1D achieved insulin independence, described as a "functional cure", with no serious adverse events of clinical significance reported. Despite these encouraging results, substantial challenges remain. With respect to differentiation protocols, insufficient functional maturity, pronounced cellular heterogeneity, significant batch-to-batch variability, and the challenges of large-scale manufacturing represent the principal unresolved limitations. Of particular concern, immune rejection remains a critical barrier even after the transplantation of autologous SC-islets, necessitating continued reliance on immunosuppressive therapy. Cell encapsulation and gene editing strategies have emerged as potential approaches to overcome this immunological barrier. In this review, we discuss strategies for obtaining insulin-producing cells from diverse cellular sources, summarize the latest advances in stem cell-based diabetes therapy, and propose future research directions.
Human or humanized immune system (HIS) animal models have emerged as indispensable tools for studying human biology and disease in vivo. By engrafting human hematopoietic and hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) into immunodeficient hosts, these models have enabled the development of a functional HIS, allowing the study of immune responses, disease mechanisms, and therapeutic interventions in a physiologically relevant setting. HIS models have broad applications across cancer research, infectious disease, regenerative medicine, and immunotherapy development. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current landscape of HIS model generation, including HSC-based approaches, host strain selection, and recent advances involving genetically engineered mouse models expressing human cytokines and human leukocyte antigen molecules. We evaluated the strengths and limitations of these models, including issues with incomplete immune reconstitution and species-specific incompatibilities. We also discuss their increasing role in preclinical drug development and explore emerging innovations such as multitissue humanization and genome-editing strategies. As HIS models continue to evolve, they provide strong opportunities to bridge basic research and clinical translation.
The Nuclear Factor of Activated T Cells (NFAT) family comprises closely related transcription factors. Numerous biological processes including angiogenesis, invasion, migration, proliferation, and cell survival are regulated by the NFAT family. NFATs are overexpressed and have increased transcriptional activity in a variety of human solid tumors and hematological cancers. Beyond tumor cell-intrinsic roles, NFAT has also emerged as an important regulator of the tumor microenvironment (TME), where it can influence immune cell behavior and contribute to mechanisms of immune evasion. The discovery of the multifaceted functions of NFATs has driven the need to further unveil their role in cancer and provide new insights into other potential roles. This review provides a comprehensive narrative synthesis of current molecular and clinical studies, with particular emphasis on how NFAT shapes tumor immune interactions and modulates the TME. By integrating findings across different cancer types, we highlight how NFAT may contribute to both tumor progression and immune regulation. The review concludes by highlighting significant knowledge gaps and recommending future paths for translational and therapeutic research to leverage NFAT signaling as a potential target in precision cancer therapy.
Psoriasis is an immune-driven dermatosis marked by keratinocyte hyperproliferation. GS-9620, a TLR7 agonist, previously mitigated EV71-triggered inflammation in mice; here we probe its anti-psoriatic potential and mechanisms.
IMQ-induced psoriasis-like mice were treated with GS-9620 or MTX; severity was tracked by PASI and histology. Skin/spleen cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18, HMGB1, TNF-α) were quantified via ELISA; immune subsets were quantified by flow cytometry. Autophagy proteins (ATG5/12/16 L1) and NLRP3 were assessed by IHC/Western blot. In vitro, M5-stimulated primary keratinocytes were treated with GS-9620 ± autophagy modulators, followed by cytokine and protein analyses.
GS-9620 markedly reduced erythema, scaling and epidermal thickness, lowered skin and systemic cytokines, and decreased splenic CD3+/CD4+IL-17A+ cells. It restored ATG5/12/16 L1 expression while suppressing NLRP3 both in lesions and in M5-stimulated keratinocytes, leading to diminished IL-1β, IL-6, IL-18, HMGB1 and TNF-α release.
GS-9620 alleviates psoriasis by enhancing autophagy and dampening NLRP3-mediated inflammation, offering a promising therapeutic avenue.
Given the need to translate basic research into human therapies, the development and refinement of clinically relevant animal models for bronchiectasis are critically important. To date, there are no well-established animal models for bronchiectasis. Thus, our aim was to develop a novel animal model that accurately recapitulates bronchiectasis-like pathologies.
To address this question, clinical strains of chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CPA) were embedded in agar beads in vitro; then CPA-loaded agar beads and papain were repeatedly instilled intratracheally in female C57BL/6 J mice. Experimental assessments included micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging, histological analysis, immune cell infiltration, cytokines, and lung function parameter measurements to evaluate structural damage, immune responses, and lung function impairments in the mouse model.
In this mouse model, we observed that lung micro-CT imaging revealed significant bronchiectasis, with visible airways in the periphery, cylindrical airway expansion, and an airway-to-artery ratio > 1. Histopathology highlighted immune cell infiltration around the trachea, including lymphocytes, neutrophils, and monocytes, along with Periodic acid-Schiff staining-positive hypermucinous secretion. Compared to controls, the bronchiectasis group exhibited elevated pro-inflammatory cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and worse lung function.
Our study presented a novel mouse model that better replicated the bronchiectasis-like phenotype than the CPA airway infection model, showing the advantages of the "CPA-loaded agar beads and papain"-driven approach in optimizing the disease models. The model mimicked the progression of bronchiectasis closely and could be used for studies on disease pathogenesis as well as the evaluation of novel therapies in the near future.
Stem cell therapy offers promise for the neurodegenerative diseases and has been explored for sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL). However, effective cell delivery strategies remain a critical challenge for SNHL treatment.
To address this need, we established an ouabain-induced SGN injured hearing loss model in rat and evaluated a novel transplantation strategy targeting the cochlear nerve surface via posterior occipital approach, designed to minimize cochlear structural damage and facilitate targeted cell delivery to Rosenthal's canal (RC). The temporal changes in glial cell densities within RC revealed a progressively deteriorating neural microenvironment, supporting early-stage intervention. Accordingly, hair follicle-derived neural crest stem cell (HFNCSC) transplantation was performed 3 or 4 days after modeling via two approaches: cochlear nerve surface transplantation (CNT) and round window transplantation (RWT).
CNT resulted in significant improvements in auditory function, as evidenced by reduced auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds, shortened wave I latencies, and preserved wave I amplitudes post-transplantation. Transplanted cells were distributed along the nerve trunk and within RC. In contrast, RWT failed to improve auditory function and caused cochlear structural damage, with widespread cell dispersion in cochlear fluids. Notably, the CNT group exhibited significantly higher densities of TUJ1-positive neuron-like cells and glial cells in the RC, accompanied by enhanced myelin basic protein expression suggestive of remyelination. No such improvements were observed in the RWT group.
These findings suggest that cochlear nerve surface transplantation enhances stem cell survival and auditory function recovery, and represents a promising delivery approach for stem cell-based therapy of SGN-related hearing loss.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a multifactorial retinal disease in which alterations in lipid metabolism and dysregulation of the complement system play a central role. The aim of this study was to characterize a novel double-knockout (DK) mouse model deficient in apolipoprotein E and complement factor H (ApoE−/−Cfh−/−) as an experimental model of early and intermediate AMD.
ApoE−/−Cfh−/− mice and wild-type controls underwent comprehensive morphological, ultrastructural, biochemical, and molecular analyses. Retinal and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) integrity, Bruch's membrane (BM) morphology, lipid accumulation, complement activation, angiogenic signaling, and synaptic organization were evaluated using histology, electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry, biochemical assays, and gene expression analyses.
DK mice exhibited significant RPE thinning, disruption of tight junctions, vacuolization, and BM thickening (p < 0.05). Lipid accumulation and plasma lipid levels significantly increased compared with controls (p < 0.01). Complement activation was significantly enhanced, as evidenced by increased C5b-9 deposition (p < 0.01). In addition, DK mice exhibited increased vascular endothelial growth factor expression (p < 0.05), altered matrix metalloproteinase activity (p < 0.05), and significant synaptic disorganization between photoreceptors and second-order neurons (p < 0.05).
The ApoE−/−Cfh−/− mouse reproduces key molecular and structural features of early and intermediate retinal degeneration with statistically significant alterations. Although it does not progress to advanced disease stages, it represents a valuable model to investigate several factors of AMD pathogenesis and evaluate therapeutic strategies targeting early disease mechanisms.
The development of nonhuman primate models that replicate human systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) remains limited. This study aimed to develop a pristane-induced SLE model in Macaca fascicularis and evaluate its capacity to mimic human-like clinical and laboratory immunological alterations.
An experimental, single-arm investigation was performed using six female M. fascicularis (2-3 years old, 3-4 kg), which received a single intraperitoneal pristane injection (5 mL/kg body weight) to induce SLE and were monitored biweekly.
Throughout the 24-week study period, all macaques developed hallmark SLE-like changes without requiring a booster, including a pronounced increase in antinuclear antibody titers (p = 0.002), with anti-dsDNA positivity detected at the study endpoint. Significant decline was observed in hemoglobin, leukocyte, and lymphocyte count (p < 0.05), reflecting hematologic perturbations consistent with human SLE. Physiologic deterioration, manifested as hyperthermia and weight loss, also emerged early (p = 0.001). Biochemical assessment demonstrated mild hepatic and renal dysfunction marked by elevated serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) and urea concentrations (p < 0.05). Uniform proteinuria further indicated renal involvement, although the absence of hematuria suggests a spectrum of renal injury that may be less severe than that observed in advanced human SLE and may require longer observation.
Overall, the reproducibility of autoantibody elevation and multisystem involvement demonstrates the model's translational potential. This nonhuman primate model offers a significant framework for investigating SLE pathogenesis and assessing novel therapy approaches.
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