Table 1.

Summary of the different types of animal models used for HTLV-1 research, the aspects of viral infection and tumorigenesis they are most useful to study, and limitations associated with each animal model.

ANIMAL MODEL	USED TO STUDY…	LIMITATIONS
Non-human primate	Persistent infection, immune response, vaccination/immunization, lymphoma/leukemia (in certain types of monkeys)	High cost, inconsistent disease development
Rabbit	Transmission, persistent infection, immune response	Inability to establish persistent disease
Rat	HAM/TSP (in certain strains), transmission, immune response, lymphoproliferative disease (in immunodeficient rats)	Induced disease does not completely follow histology of human disease, strain dependent disease development, immunodeficient rats are required to model ATL
Mouse (immune competent)	Persistent infection	Lock of disease and in vivo spread of virus following infection
SCID mouse	Proliferation and tumorigenic potential to ATL tumor cells, viral proliferation, therapeutic drugs	No immune system, high maintenance costs, use of certain ATL cell lines to induce disease
Transgenic mouse	Role of Tax and HBZ during ATL development, Tax-mediated disruption of lymphocyte function, ATL treatments, chronic arthritis	High production and maintenance costs, overexpression of viral gene products is not representative of true viral infection of disease
“Humanized” mouse	ATL development, ATL therapeutics, tumor microenvironment, role of viral and cellular genes in tumorigenesis	Absence of a functional immune system, higher cost associated with generation, maintenance, and care