MOUSE MODELS OF HUMAN DISEASE(ELIZABETH GALBREATH AND BRAD BOLON, SECTION EDITORS) Mouse Models as Predictors of Human Responses: Evolutionary Medicine

The Author(s) 2015. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract Mice offer a number of advantages and are extensively used to model human diseases and drug responses. Selective breeding and genetic manipulation of mice have made many different genotypes and phenotypes available for research. However, in many cases, mouse models have failed to be predictive. Important sources of the prediction problem have been the failure to consider the evolutionary basis for species differences, especially in drug metabolism, and disease definitions that do not reflect the complexity of gene expression underlying disease phenotypes. Incorporating evolutionary insights into mouse models allow for unique opportunities to characterize the effects of diet, different gene expression profiles, and microbiomics underlying human drug responses and dis-ease phenotypes