Mice will be caught
Rodents for vaccine testing are sold for $ 3 thousand.
Such prices were set by companies for animals with human genes and immunity
Anna Urmantseva, Izvestia
Mice with switched off, as well as specially implanted human genes and modified immunity for testing the COVID-19 vaccine are sold from $ 1 thousand to $ 3 thousand apiece. At such prices, they are offered by companies engaged in the creation of special lines of laboratory animals. Since the use of such rodents is the only way to test new drugs and vaccines not on humans, countries working on their creation are forced to buy them. Including Russia.
Clean line
Since the beginning of March, Russian research organizations have been receiving offers from companies engaged in creating clean lines of laboratory mice. For example, the biotech company Cyagen (Santa Clara, California) offered Lomonosov Moscow State University to buy three types of rodents: with switched-off (knockout) receptor genes binding to coronavirus (Knockout Mice), with modified "humanized" immunity (Humanized Mice) and with an embedded human receptor gene (Knockin Mice, Rosa26).
The cost of knockout animals is $3,599, humanized ("humanized") – $8,400, with a built–in human gene – $9,600. The price list for three mice is given, since it is this number of one male and two females that form the so-called nucleus (a group of animals that can then be multiplied).
– Prices are set by a company that either made or bought unique mice itself, – explained Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergey Nedospasov. – A human gene of the very receptor that uses this particular coronavirus has been inserted into these rodents with the help of genetic technologies. Such companies can dictate prices and even decide who to sell their laboratory animals to. This is their right. If we take into account that the price is set for the "core" – three animals capable of reproduction, then the price does not look crazy at all.
The Moscow State University explained to Izvestia that in order to create and test a universal vaccine (from COVID-19, MERS and SARS), the idea of which is being hatched in the walls of the institution, at least one line of such animals will definitely be needed.
– If it is possible to create a universal vaccine that will provide us with protection not only from COVID-19, but also from other forms of coronavirus infection, outbreaks of which will surely haunt humanity in the future, then the price of these mice is not so great, – said the head of the Department of Virology of the Biophak of Moscow State University. Lomonosova Olga Karpova. – However, the average amount of the RNF grant is about six million rubles – it turns out that it will go all for the purchase of only 25 rodents.
Cyagen specialists, as it is written in the letter with the price list, began to distribute sales offers from February 24. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, they joined the work on the creation of special laboratory mice.
The letter describes in detail that SARS-CoV-2 invades human cells mainly by binding to membrane receptors. There are three cellular receptors associated with coronavirus infection: ACE2, DPP4, and APN. The Cyagen team has developed gene modification models for these three types of key coronavirus receptors.
– These are receptors on human cells, with which S-proteins on the lipid membrane of the virus connect, – said Konstantin Krutovsky, head of the Scientific and Educational Center for Genomic Research at SFU, Professor at the University of Göttingen (Germany). – This is how the RNA of the virus penetrates into human cells. Transgenic, genetically modified rodents with embedded human genes will now have not only mouse ACE2 and DPP4 receptors on the cell surface, but also ours. That is, the animal's reaction to different drugs and effects will be more in line with the human one.
Laboratory art
Cyagen's letter also states that the company can provide any other models related to the SARS-CoV-2 study, but scientists need to provide scientific materials that would confirm the feasibility of the task. After that, the company will offer a price for such a mouse.
According to Andrey Kamensky, head of the Department of Human and Animal Physiology of the Lomonosov Moscow State University Biofactory, such rodents are "a work of laboratory art" and are therefore evaluated correctly.
Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Laboratory of Biotechnology and Virology of NSU Sergey Netesov holds the same opinion.
– There is no other model for testing vaccines and medicines. No one will test them immediately in public. And since there is no alternative, it remains only to buy animals from similar companies. These animals were made by a team of twenty people in two months, day and night in the laboratory, spending a lot of money. If you compare all this, the price no longer seems sky–high," the expert believes.
Leonid Shuman, an employee of the Institute of Biology of TSU (a university participating in the 5-100 competitiveness improvement program), also told Izvestia about the uniqueness of such laboratory mice.
– The Rosa26 gene (mentioned as a component of Knockin Mice. – "Izvestia") is usually used as a locus for inserting any target gene, including a human one. That is, you can embed any gene there and be sure that it will work in all cells and at all stages of mouse development," the expert explained.
Leonid Shuman estimated the quoted prices for mice as "quite high". However, talking about prices would be relevant if there were scientific groups in our country that could also quickly create the necessary "mouse models".
– In the programs of the new genomic centers being created now, which are included in the national project "Science", it is supposed to develop the latest methods of genetic modification of various organisms, including the creation of various mouse models, – Konstantin Krutovsky noted. However, at first, the development of such technologies will require large financial injections, the expert believes. Which, however, will pay off over time with the availability of our own developed effective vaccines and medicines.
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