Insight versus Quagmire with Compound HIV Transgenics

[摘要] “Why don't you mate mouse X with mouse Y and see what happens?” How many times has one heard that bit of advice? For the beleaguered postdoc assigned to this experiment, the undoubted conclusion will be: Talk is cheap. Actually completing this experiment is expensive, labor-intensive, and time-consuming. The popularity of transgenic cross-breeding studies stems from the wide availability of numerous existing transgenic lines, but mostly, it is the lure of the definitive in vivo experiment. On the one hand, most definitive experiments usually are difficult and time-consuming. On the other hand, many investigators would argue that transgenic cross-breeding studies, whether it be by folly, naiveté, or bad luck, can be inadequately performed, making statistically significant data collection and interpretation of results challenging. With regard to the study of HIV-associated nephropathy (HIVAN), transgenic studies have been useful in illuminating aspects of pathogenesis; however, the literature is laden with countervailing reports from independent laboratories,1 leaving both readers and investigators struggling to find a consensus.

[学科分类] 泌尿医学

[关键词] Bone marrow necrosis;Sickle cell disease;Hyperhemolysis syndrome