In January 2007, scientists at the University of Iowa reported in the Journal of Virology that they had developed K18-hACE2 mice for research of the SARS-CoV virus. All animal studies were approved by the University of Iowa and the Veterans Administration Institutional Animal Care and Use committees.

The researchers anticipate that these mice will be useful for studies of pathogenesis, especially for examining the role of proinflammatory chemokines and cytokines in pulmonary and CNS disease and the basis of viremia and extrapulmonary spread. Furthermore, the lack of cellular infiltration into the CNS is unexpected, given the levels of SARS-CoV, raising the possibility that the virus specifically inhibits inflammatory cell migration into this organ.

In addition to their utility in studies of SARS pathogenesis, K18-hACE2 mice will also be very useful in vaccine and other therapeutic studies, especially those directed against human strains of SARS-CoV.