AACR 2021: Humanized IL6/hIL6R mouse model supports the evaluation of therapeutic drug candidates targeting human IL6 and IL6 receptor

AACR 2021: Humanized IL6/hIL6R mouse model supports the evaluation of therapeutic drug candidates targeting human IL6 and IL6 receptor

• Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic cytokine that not only plays an important role in the immune response, but has also been associated with the development of autoimmune diseases via chronic inflammation. 
• Biocytogen generated a double humanized B-hIL6/hIL6R mouse model by replacing the mouse full-length and protein coding sequences of Il6 and Il6r, respectively, with the corresponding human sequences. 
• Collagen induced arthritis (CIA) was modeled in B-hIL6/hIL6R mice to evaluate the in vivo efficacy of anti-human IL6 antibodies. 
• Anti-human IL6 antibody treatment reversed CIA disease progression in B-hIL6/hIL6R mice by decreasing the total clinical score.
• B-hIL6/hIL6R mice are a promising model for in vivo efficacy evaluation of IL6 and IL6R antibodies.