Review on murine models available for dengue vaccine development

Abstract

Dengue is one of the most lethal and wide spread diseases with an estimated 5,00,000 cases being reported each year. Despite this, there are no targeted antivirals or vaccines approved for treatment. This could be attributed to the lack of appropriate animal models available to carry out dengue vaccine testing. A developed rodent model will be ideal for vaccine testing in laboratory. One major setback is that wild type mice are resistant to dengue virus replication. Interferon deficient mice are considered to be the most accurate model for vaccine testing as it recapitulates all the vital characteristics of severe dengue disease manifestation. Therefore, for development of dengue vaccine, interferon deficient mouse model will be a rigid model for testing and development of dengue-specific vaccines or antivirals.