cells Review Humanized Mouse Models for the Study of Hepatitis C and Host Interactions Kylie Su Mei Yong 1, Zhisheng Her 1 and Qingfeng Chen 1,2,3,* 1 Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Proteos, Singapore 138673, Singapore;
[email protected] (K.S.M.Y.);
[email protected] (Z.H.) 2 Department of Physiology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117545, Singapore 3 Key Laboratory for Major Obstetric Diseases of Guangdong Province, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510150, China * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +65-6586-9873 Received: 15 May 2019; Accepted: 13 June 2019; Published: 17 June 2019 Abstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is commonly attributed as a major cause of chronic hepatotropic diseases, such as, steatosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. As HCV infects only humans and primates, its narrow host tropism hampers in vivo studies of HCV-mammalian host interactions and the development of effective therapeutics and vaccines. In this context, we will focus our discussion on humanized mice in HCV research. Here, these humanized mice are defined as animal models that encompass either only human hepatocytes or both human liver and immune cells. Aspects related to immunopathogenesis, anti-viral interventions, drug testing and perspectives of these models for future HCV research will be discussed. Keywords: humanized mice; hepatitis C virus; liver; hepatotropic disease; steatosis; cirrhosis; hepatocellular carcinoma 1. Introduction First identified in 1989, hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus belonging to the genus Hepacivirus of family Flaviviridae [1,2].