House dust mite (HDM)-induced subacute asthma in marmoset

House dust mite (HDM) is the most frequent in-house allergen known to induce allergic symptoms in humans. HDM-induced subacute allergic asthma in marmoset is a state-of-the-art model, closely reflecting more features of clinical asthma than rodent models. Marmosets are new world monkeys with a very high level of homology and physiological similarity to humans.

The allergen challenge involves repeated exposure to HDM for a period of several weeks. This exposure treatment has been shown to reproduce hallmarks of human asthma, including Th2-driven allergic inflammation with influx of eosinophils. It provides the opportunity to assess novel treatments in a therapeutic rather than a prophylactic setting.

• Skin prick test
• In-life assessment of lung function: early airway response (EAR) – airway response to allergen exposure; airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) – airway response to methacholine exposure
• Bronchoalveolar lavage: total and differential cell counts by flow cytometry, cytokine levels by ELISA or MSD
• Histology imaging: conventional staining, histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and pathology scoring
  
• Lung tissue analysis: RNA isolation for gene expression analysis, cytokine levels by ELISA or MSD
• Ex-vivo PBMC allergen challenge assay