What are the preclinical models available to investigate SARS-CoV-2 infection? Which ones resemble human COVID-19 the most?
At the moment, the animal model that resembles more closely human COVID-19 is the Rhesus macaque, whose ACE2 receptor is identical to that in humans. This model recently showed that SARS-CoV-2 reinfection was hampered due to infection-acquired immunity and demonstrated the therapeutic effect of remdesivir in COVID-19 prior use in human clinical trials (Bao L 2020; Williamson 2020). The murine ACE2 receptor is different from humans, hence humanized murine models with recombinant human ACE2 are necessary.202