Adapting rats for hepatitis C research

The Hartford Courant
Published Thursday, December 13, 2001

One of the problems for scientists studying hepatitis C is that the virus does not damage human liver cells in the lab or the livers of laboratory animals the way it can damage the human liver in nature.

Dr. George Wu at the University of Connecticut Health Center believes he has figured a way around the problem:

1) Tiny amounts of human liver cells are injected into fetal rats.

2) The developing fetuses' immune systems accept the human cells as part of their own bodies.

3) After birth, as the rats age, more human liver cells can be injected into them. The rats' immune systems don't reject the cells.

4) Experimental therapies and treatments for hepatitis C then can be tested in the rats.