Humanised mouse models in drug discovery for skin inflammation

Inflammatory skin diseases have a high prevalence in Western countries and pharmaceutical companies spend increasing amounts of money to develop drugs for these disorders. However, their complex pathophysiology is only partially reflected in classical rodent models, limiting their predictivity, and new compounds frequently fail in clinical trials. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more predictive and reliable animal models. Humanised mouse models seem to combine the convenience of small animal models with good correlation to the situation in patients and, thus, promise to be a valuable technique for translational medicine. Here, the authors summarise how mice can be humanised and which humanised models for inflammatory skin diseases exist. Application of these models in drug discovery and their advantages and limitations are discussed.