Use of nonhuman primates in obstructive lung disease research  – is it required?

Dahlmann, Franziska; Sewald, Katherina

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/pb-4-131-2017

Articles | Volume 4, issue 1

Primate Biol., 4, 131–142, 2017

https://doi.org/10.5194/pb-4-131-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue: Special diseases of nonhuman primates

Primate Biol., 4, 131–142, 2017

https://doi.org/10.5194/pb-4-131-2017

© Author(s) 2017. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 4, issue 1

Review article 30 Jun 2017

Review article | 30 Jun 2017

Use of nonhuman primates in obstructive lung disease research – is it required?

Franziska Dahlmann^1,2 and Katherina Sewald² Franziska Dahlmann and Katherina Sewald

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¹German Primate Center GmbH, Infection Pathology Unit, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
²Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Preclinical Pharmacology and Immunology, Biomedical Research in Endstage and Obstructive Lung Disease Hannover (BREATH), Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Nikolai-Fuchs-Straße 1, 30625 Hanover, Germany

Received: 29 Mar 2017 – Accepted: 05 May 2017 – Published: 30 Jun 2017

Abstract. In times of increasing costs for health insurances, obstructive lung diseases are a burden for both the patients and the economy. Pulmonary symptoms of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are similar; nevertheless, the diseases differ in pathophysiology and therapeutic approaches. Novel therapeutics are continuously developed, and nonhuman primates (NHPs) provide valuable models for investigating novel biologicals regarding efficacy and safety.

This review discusses the role of nonhuman primate models for drug development in asthma and COPD and investigates whether alternative methods are able to prevent animal experiments.