[ Follow Ups ]
Posted by Sergei Atamas on May 10, 1999 at 10:40:05:
In Reply to: More about mouse models of diabetes posted by Jim Till on May 09, 1999 at 10:38:47:
: If one believes that regulatory networks involve a lot of redundancy, then
: longer-term side effects might be expected.
Of course, one would expect much more negative outcomes from "molecular sloppiness" than positive ones. I suspect, side effects will be found sooner or later.
:If one also believes that
: regulatory networks in mice and humans may differ, at least
: quantitatively, then there's also the possibility of severe longer-term
: side effects in humans that are not apparent in mice. Another paper by
: Risch et al (Medline UI: 93356164), about a mouse model of diabetes, is of
: some interest from this point of view?
One of the autoimmune diabetic strains of mice, NOD, is the most studied, yet a very strange one. The cellular mechanisms of the disease in these animals are far from being understood. The most fascinating thing about these mice is that although exact copies of each other genetically, and kept in the same cage, they will develop symptoms of diabetes at different times. Some animals become sick very early, others very late, and some in between. NOD experts talk about a stochastic event "X" that turns the genetic predisposition to diabetes "on", but such an event should come from the mouse itslef and not at a directly genetically determined level. Interesting.