Reliable Translation between Animal and Human studies
Animal experiments in Europe are subject to strict legal regulations that require an ethical assessment, including a harm鈥揵enefit analysis. This means that medical research involving the use of animals can only be ethically defended if the results of these tests contribute to the well-being of humans or animals. This project aims to uncover which factors contribute to a reliable translation between animal and human studies.
Progress
Our preceding scoping review has shown that the correspondence between results from animal and human studies varies from 0 per cent to 100 per cent. We continue this project to reliably determine which factors may contribute to successful translation by comparing animal-to-human correspondence for specific (groups of) treatments and specific tests, using data available from literature.
One of our first studies using ASReview assesses the animal-to-human correspondence for disease-preventing vaccines. This is a novel development, as the preceding scoping review focussed on pharmacological treatments. This project consists of an umbrella scoping review in which we summarise the evidence of studies analysing this correspondence at the meta鈥搈eta level. Because of the large body of available literature, screening for this review will be automated. Part of the literature will be screened manually, to ensure accuracy and as the basis for simulation studies to optimise efficiency.
The type of data we collect in these projects can not only be used to improve animal-to-human translation, but also as a basis for the development of alternatives to animal testing; alternative (in vitro or in silico) tests should be at least as predictive as the currently used animal models.
Funding
This project is funded by ZonMW鈥檚 More knowledge with fewer animals scheme.
People involved
- - Post Doc, Hannover Medical School
- Franck Meijboom - Advisor