A novel mouse strain to screen and validate therapeutics for preventing and treating life-threatening diarrhea

Value Proposition

• First infantile diarrhea model to capture host immune responses to enteric bacterial infections.
• Exhibits symptoms for lethal and severe infantile enteropathogenic E. coli infection episodes.
• Allows for discovery and screening of novel drug targets for E. coli infection-associated lethal diarrhea in infants

Unmet Need

• The WHO Global Burden of Foodborne Diseases report estimates that >300 million illnesses and nearly 200,000 deaths are caused by enteropathogenic and enterohemorragic E. coli globally each year, mainly in infant and immunocompromised populations. Current methods of studying such infections are limited to studies in immortalized human cell lines, which do not capture the full extent of the disease mechanism. Thus, there exists a strong need to develop an in vivo model to provide the detailed information to prevent and treat this life-threating disease.

Technology Description

• Current methods for modeling pathogen-related infantile diarrhea are limited to in vitro studies in human cell lines. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed a mouse model capable of modeling the condition. The mouse strain exhibits comparable life-threatening symptoms when infected with rodent intestinal pathogens, creating an accurate model for lethal infantile diarrhea infections.

Stage of Development

• The model has successfully been developed and is ready for commercialization or corporate partnerships.

Data Availability

• Data available upon request.

Publication

N/A