Animal Models of Psoriasis: Highlights and Drawbacks

The document reviewed various animal models used to study psoriasis, a disease not naturally occurring in laboratory animals. It covered transgenic, knockout, xenotransplantation, immunological reconstitution, drug-induced, and spontaneous mutation models in rodents, which are used to investigate psoriasis pathophysiology. The review acknowledged the utility of these models in understanding the disease and testing therapies but also pointed out their limitations, as they only partially reflect the human condition and have not been systematically validated. It highlighted the need for systematic validation and further research into the immunogenetic basis of psoriasis. The document also noted the challenges in comparing these models to human psoriasis due to differences like fibrosis in certain transgenic mice and the variability in disease severity influenced by environmental factors and gene dosage effects. It mentioned that no animal model perfectly replicates human psoriasis, with only sporadic cases observed in nonhuman primates, dogs, and pigs.