Pathogenesis and virulence of coronavirus disease: Comparative pathology of animal models for COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Animal models that can replicate clinical and pathologic features of severe human coronavirus infections have been instrumental in the development of novel vaccines and therapeutics. The goal of this review is to summarize our current understanding of the pathogenesis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the pathologic features that can be observed in several currently available animal models. Knowledge gained from studying these animal models of SARS-CoV-2 infection can help inform appropriate model selection for disease modelling as well as for vaccine and therapeutic developments.

KEYWORDS:

• Respiratory pathogens
• coronaviruses
• animal models
• pathology
• pathogenesis

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the journal editor for their suggestions that improved the overall quality of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability statement

Data reported in the figure and table in this article have been deposited in a recognized data repository (Figshare.com) with a digital object identifier: 10.6084/m9.figshare.24348958

Additional information

Funding

NK was supported by NIH T32 Comparative Medicine and Pathology Postdoctoral Fellowship OD010993. COVID-19 work in the Ly-Liang laboratory was supported by NIH R21AI158019 and COVID-19 Rapid Response Grants from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine’s Office of Academic Clinical Affairs.