Exacerbating mice

Very few companies have attempted to develop therapeutics for the common, rhinovirus-induced cold in part because of the generally mild, self-resolving nature of the illness. There remain, however, opportunities for treating rhinovirus-induced acute exacerbations of airway diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

One problem in discovering therapeutics for acute exacerbations is a dearth of small animal models of rhinovirus infection. Now, scientists from Imperial College London have produced the first comprehensive mouse models of rhinovirus infection.¹ The findings, published in Nature Medicine, could help reveal the molecular basis for how the infection exacerbates airway disease...