Feature: How animal studies contributed to biomedical breakthroughs in 2024
- Bob Tolliday
- 8 minutes ago
- 9 min read
As EARA prepares for the annual Be Open About Animal Research Day (#BOARD25) to be held on Tuesday, 3 June, we look back at how biomedical studies, that included the use of animals, made ground-breaking progress in fields such as cancer, brain disease and spinal cord injuries.
We are used to seeing the development of remarkable new treatments and therapies hitting the headlines, but with research commonly taking many years, culminating in human trials and regulatory approval, it can be forgotten how often animal studies play a key role in these breakthroughs.
For instance, in 2024 a first-of-its-kind Alzheimer’s drug that slows cognitive decline in early-stage patients, developed using animal research, was approved for use around the world. Lecanemab is the first Alzheimer’s drug that directly targets aspects of the disease itself, rather than just the symptoms - the drug is an antibody derived from mice.
Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration has approved a revolutionary new treatment for schizophrenia – the first in 30 years. The new drug, Cobenfy, performs much better than other treatments and with fewer side effects because of the way it reacts with brain cells. Animal studies using mice and rats demonstrated that one of the drug’s ingredients, xanomeline, supported cognitive functions and could control the symptoms of schizophrenia.
Some of the most prestigious prizes in biomedical science were awarded to research that included a key contribution from animals. The humble roundworm was used by the winners of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in their discovery of MicroRNAs, which are crucial to regulating the activity of genes in the body.
By studying roundworms with gene mutations that prevented them from developing properly,
Victor Ambros (depicted left) and Gary Ruvkun (right), at Massachusetts General Hospital, identified a previously unknown, but essential, mechanism for gene regulation that explains why cells with the same genes have different characteristics
Meanwhile the 2024 Lasker Awards, recognising advances in human health, went to US researcher Zhijian ‘James’ Chen, who used mice in his work at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, to discover the cGAS enzyme, that senses both the body’s DNA and foreign DNA.
Below is a country-by-country guide to some of last year’s biggest breakthroughs in the use of animals to improve the health of humans and animals, as well as a look at progress in replacing or reducing the use of animals wherever possible.
Biomedical advances across Europe in 2024
Austria
Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology, studying retinas that had been removed from mice, found that nerve cells in the eye can carry out different tasks for vision. This highlights the cells’ natural ability to deliver certain signals and may help in the improved development of electronic retinal implants for blind people with retinal diseases.
Belgium
Researchers at EARA member the University of Antwerp, together with international collaborators, have studied how a common bacterial protein in the gut can affect the immune system, highlighting its role in gut inflammation.
A study at NERF (a centre at EARA members VIB and KU Leuven uncovered, using mice, how the spinal cord can learn and memorise responses to possible threats, without needing the brain. This offers new insights into how to treat spinal cord injuries in future.
Denmark
A modified version of insulin, developed by Novo Nordisk, which can automatically control sudden drops in blood sugar, has been successfully tested in pigs and rats. The insulin has the potential to provide an improved treatment option for people with diabetes.
France
A study from the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and the University of Bordeaux, has developed heart valves made of biomaterials as a new way to treat congenital heart disease, which affects one in every 4000 births. Scientists first tested the heart valves in human cells then implanted them into newborn sheep. The valves functioned as planned and adapted to the growing animal – a critical factor for paediatric applications, which are often limited in their longevity
Germany
Researchers led by the Max Delbrück Center, and also involving Charité Berlin, both EARA members, used gene editing to correct an exaggerated immune response that is a key feature of a rare childhood disease - FHL (Familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis). The team were able to repair defective immune cells in mice as well as in blood samples taken from two babies with a disease of the immune system, dampening the immune response and returning it to normal.
Ireland
Research conducted by APC Microbiome Ireland, at EARA member the University College Cork, observed the key role that bacteria in the gut play in the control of stress throughout the day. The team saw that mice with a depleted gut microbiome had increased levels of a stress hormone and disrupted activity of stress-related genes, which was linked to the body’s circadian rhythm.
Italy
Research with chicken embryos and human stem cells has shed light on conditions like spina bifida. The study involving EARA member the University of Padua used 3D printed sensors and powerful microscopes to measure spinal cord malformations that occur during chicken embryo spinal cord development.
Netherlands
Research from EARA members the Netherlands Cancer Institute and VIB Institute for Cancer Biology, in Belgium, has shown that the menstrual cycle can influence the effectiveness of chemotherapy in breast cancer treatment. The study found that in female mice with breast cancer, chemotherapy worked better if it was applied during a specific phase of the mouse menstrual cycle.
A microscopic electrical implant, tested in mice, may hold the potential to restore vision for people who have been blinded. A team that included EARA member the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience found that mice with the implant were successfully stimulated in the part of the brain that processes visual information.
Researchers at EARA member Radboud University Medical Center have developed a scan that uses a compound, found in lizard saliva, to detect rare types of tumours called insulinomas. The scan detected the tumours in 95% of cases, significantly outperforming traditional imaging methods and potentially reducing the previous need for invasive exploratory surgery.
Portugal
Research at EARA member the University of Lisbon has revealed that pets can transmit antibiotic-resistant bacteria to their owners, highlighting a significant public health concern. An analysis of faecal samples from dogs, cats, and their owners found that they shared multidrug-resistant bacteria, due to their close environmental and physical interactions.
Spain
A study using monkeys has shed light on how sound waves can deliver drugs to the brain, for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and glioblastoma. Researchers at the HM CINAC Comprehensive Neurosciences Centre, saw how low-intensity focused ultrasound can find a way through the normally impenetrable blood-brain barrier and found that it was safe and caused no lasting damage in macaques.
Sweden
A synthetic gel, inspired by the protective ‘slime’ barrier found in many animals, and developed by EARA member Uppsala University, could help recovery from slipped discs. The gel works similarly to the slimy mucus coating (mucin) barrier that protects cells in the body, and prevented further damage in rats with spine injuries, as well as in mice.
A study at EARA member the Karolinska Institute, has found a way to understand and monitor the liver by studying it in a completely different part of the body – the eyes. Researchers transplanted lab-grown liver cells into the eyes of mice and found the cells had similar characteristics to the actual liver, such as retaining fat in a similar way when the mice were fed a high-fat diet.
UK
Following studies in animals including mice and monkeys, an experimental vaccine for chlamydia, a sexually transmitted infection, has been shown to be safe and able to generate an immune response in people in an early clinical trial. The trial was conducted by Imperial College London and the Statens Serum Institut, Denmark.
A game-changing treatment for asthma – developed using animal research – can now be used routinely to manage asthma attacks, marking it the first new treatment for the condition in 50 years.
The monoclonal antibody benralizumab was previously only used for severe asthma, but an international team, led by King’s College London, made a breakthrough in finding that it can also treat more routine asthma attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Biomedical advances around the world
Australia
Animal studies have developed new ways to manage and effectively treat type 1 diabetes. A team led by the University of Sydney created a pill form of insulin, made from nanoscopic material, that successfully controlled blood sugar without any toxicity in mice and monkeys.
Japan
Research at Kobe University looked at marmoset monkeys and mice, to understand the early differences in synapses – the connections between brain neurons that transmit signals and information. Immature development of synapses is linked to neuropsychiatric disorders, such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. By studying both species of animal shortly
after birth, the team identified a group of proteins that give the first insights into the early development of synapses at the protein level.
USA
A baby boy who needed a partial heart transplant, at 17-days-old, is now a thriving toddler, doctors at Duke Health have reported. The operation involved using livingvalves and arteries from a donated heart. The early research for this procedure wasinitially developed using piglets.
Using stem cells from ground squirrels, a study at the National Eye Institute identifieda protein that can reverse cataracts in the eye. When the eye lenses of rats with cataracts were treated with the protein, there was a clearing of the cataracts, without the need for surgery.
A gene therapy that boosts the development of the placenta has been tested successfully in pregnant monkeys. The research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Florida holds the potential to improve pregnancy by reducing complications during and after birth.
A study in sheep, at Northwestern University, tested a new biomaterial designed to stimulate cartilage regrowth, for people with joint injuries and arthritis.
Researchers developed a scaffold made of biomaterials, composed partly of hyaluronic acid, a popular ingredient in skincare that is also present in joints. They tested the scaffold in sheep with joint damage and it promoted cartilage regrowth, improving joint function.
“A study on a sheep model is more predictive of how the treatment will work in humans.” Samuel Stupp, researcher, Northwestern University
Reducing and replacing animals in biomedical research
Researchers have developed a heart organoid that can produce blood, to improve the study of heart development and diseases. The study, at EARA member Hannover Medical School, Germany, created organoids in the lab from human pluripotent stem cells, which have the ability to develop into any cell type.
The WowWowSkin project, developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology, Germany, has succeeded in creating a lab-grown skin that mimics real canine skin, to allow safety assessments of medical treatments and care products for dogs without using animals.
At VU Amsterdam, Netherlands, researchers have developed an ‘organ-on-chip’ model, based on human blood vessels, to improve the study of the effect of snake venom on the body, hopefully leading to less reliance on the use of animals which have been used to study the effects of snakebites.
Research from the University of Bern, Switzerland, has led to the development of a 3D lab model of human lip cells, using cells from patients with lip lacerations and cleft lips. The model could help to replace the need to use mice in the study of lip diseases and lesions.
The value of using chicken eggs to study cancer has been highlighted in a recent video by Understanding Animal Research, holding the potential to reduce the numbers of mice used in this field. The documentary (pictured), in collaboration with King’s College London, explains how fertilised chicken eggs can be used instead of mice to study tumours.
The Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK, has used ultrasound to pinpoint more accurately pregnancy in mice, which could lead to a reduction in the numbers used for breeding in research. It allows animal technicians to easily check for the key signs, as well as identify which mice are not actually pregnant, so they can be used for breeding again.
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