The present invention pertains to a non-human genetically modified animal with increased susceptibility to infection with a human virus. The invention suggests to genetically impair the expression of newly identified viral infection repression factors CD302, Cr11, Ndufc2, AW112010, Scarb2 and Zc3hav1, which markedly improves infection with human viruses in none-human hosts. Furthermore provided are methods for the generation of the animal of the invention, methods for increasing or reducing the susceptibility of a cell to viral infection, methods for screening novel modulators of viral infection as well as new therapy options for the treatment of viral diseases, in particular hepatitis C.

The present invention provides a preparation method for an anti-porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome cloned pig, comprising: transferring CRISPR/Cas9 targeting vectors and CD163 gene homologous recombination modification vectors into fibroblasts of a pig to obtain positive clone cells, a seventh exon of porcine endogenous CD163 gene being replaced with a eleventh exon of human CD163-L1 gene, so that the positive clone cells are incapable of mediating invasions of PRRSV; taking the positive cell as nuclear transfer donor cells and oocytes as nuclear transfer recipient cells to obtain a cloned embryo by adopting a somatic cell nuclear transfer technology; and impregenating a pig by transferring the cloned embryo into the uterus of the pig, to obtain a cloned pig.

The invention relates to a method of expanding a population of regulatory T cells in a tissue or organ of a subject, wherein said method comprises administration of IL-2 and a targeting moiety specific for said tissue or organ, and wherein said tissue or organ is the lung. The invention further relates to populations of regulatory T cells produced according to the method and the production of said population in vivo. Also provided is a pharmaceutical composition comprising IL-2 and a targeting moiety as defined herein as well as a method of treating a disease or disorder mediated by inflammation or for the reduction of inflammation which comprises the methods defined herein or administration of a pharmaceutical composition as defined herein.

Genetically modified rodents such as mice and rats, and methods and compositions for making and using the same, are provided. The rodents comprise a humanization of at least one endogenous rodent Tmprss gene, such as an endogenous rodent Tmprss2, Tmprss4, or Tmprss11d gene.

The present invention relates to cells engineered to express at least one cytokine and at least one antigen which induces the self differentiation of dendritic cell (DC) progenitor cells into functional antigen-presenting induced DC (iDC). Moreover, therapeutic uses of said iDC for regenerating the immune system after transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells are disclosed. Said iDC are also useful for generating mice with a functional endogenously regenerated humanized immune system producing antigen-specific T and B cell responses which can be used as animal models for the study of the human adaptive immune responses.

Compositions for the in vivo delivery of a gene editing CRISPR/Cas9 complex was developed to eliminate integrated retroviral DNA sequences from latently infected human cells and animal disease models

Apicomplexan parasites or red blood cells infected with apicomplexan parasites are administered to an animal in combination with a delayed death agent that initially allows parasite replication but subsequently kills the apicomplexan parasites. This allows the elicitation of an immune response by the animal while preventing the parasites producing a serious infection of the animal. The apicomplexan parasites may be malaria or babesia parasites. The delayed death agent may be a tetracycline class antibiotic, a macrolide antibiotic or a lincosamide antibiotic.

The invention relates to the field of biomedicine and particularly to a hydrophobically modified antimicrobial peptide and a use thereof. The technical problem to be solved by the invention is to provide a hydrophobically modified antimicrobial peptide, the hydrophobic modification is to couple a hydrophobic fragment at the nitrogen terminal of the antimicrobial peptide. The invention further provides a micelle prepared from the hydrophobically modified antimicrobial peptide, and use of the hydrophobically modified antimicrobial peptide and the micelle in preparing antimicrobial drugs, nucleic acid transporter, immune adjuvant and the like. Due to small molecular weight, the antimicrobial peptide of the invention can be conveniently synthesized by Fmoc solid phase polypeptide, and coupled to a hydrophobic fragment by the chemical synthesis method in a simple and feasible way.

A humanized murine model of chronic hepatitis B constructed using human stem cells, obtained by obtaining the human stem cells; transplanting the human stem cells into a murine with liver damage to achieve presence of 110.sup.4-8 of the human stem cells in the murine in vivo; etc. The humanized murine model may be used for the study of drug resistance to the antiviral drugs, the study of the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B, etc. In addition to the study of the mechanism of hepatitis B viral infection, the humanized murine model may also be used for research in treatment.

A method of constructing humanized murine model using stem cells, includes obtaining human stem cells; transplanting human stem cells into murine with liver damage; and obtaining hepatotropic virus infected humanized murine. It was found that by inducing severe liver damage and transplanting human stem cells, human-derived hepatocytes in murine liver have a high chimeric rate of 50-95%, and human-derived immune cells may exist in murine organs such as spleen, blood, liver, and bone marrow, thereby forming murine model of humanized liver and immune cell. The humanized murines are then infected with various types of hepatotropic viruses to form humanized hepatotropic viral infected murine model. In addition to construction of model for studying hepatotropic viral infection using the technique for constructing the humanized murine model, the concept of this technical solution may also be used for constructing models of other humanized organs.