Mice with Reconstituted Human Immune System Components as a Tool to Study Immune Cell Interactions in EBV Infection

Recent developments in mouse models that harbor part of a human immune system have proved extremely valuable to study the in vivo immune response to human specific pathogens such as Epstein-Barr virus. Over the last decades, advances in immunodeficient mouse strains that can be used as recipients for human immune cells have greatly enhanced the use of these models. Here, we describe the generation of mice with reconstituted human immune system (HIS mice) using immunocompromised mice transplanted with human CD34⁺ hematopoietic stem cells. We will also describe how such mice, in which human immune cells are generated de novo, can be used to study EBV infection.