Transferability of animal test results to humans

6. Results are transferable

Choosing a suitable animal model is key to ensuring that the results of animal experiments can be transferred to humans. That means that the animal must be as similar as possible to humans both genetically and in terms of the biological functions to be investigated. This is the case with zebrafish, fruit flies and rodents, particularly mice. Mice and humans share a very similar development, physiology and genome. The genetic and physiological match between the two species is around 95 percent. This is why mice are the species most commonly used in preclinical research involving animals. Mouse models provide information about human health and disease. A large number of mouse models are now in use in research in Europe and around the world. In addition, disease models have been developed, phenotyped and archived for research. In the disease model, a disease is artificially induced in the test animal. The researchers make sure that the disease process in the mouse is generally the same as if the disease had broken out by itself. As a result it is possible to make inferences about the situation in humans. Differences obviously remain, however. This is why any medicine, new therapy or new treatment method has to be tested on at least two species of animal – rodent and non-rodent – before it can enter the clinical phase and trials in healthy human volunteers.