title: Animal models of skin disease for drug discovery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Discovery of novel drugs, treatments, and testing of consumer products in the field of dermatology is a multi-billion dollar business. Due to the distressing nature of many dermatological diseases, and the enormous consumer demand for products to reverse the effects of skin photodamage, aging, and hair loss, this is a very active field.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this paper, we will cover the use of animal models that have been reported to recapitulate to a greater or lesser extent the features of human dermatological disease. There has been a remarkable increase in the number and variety of transgenic mouse models in recent years, and the basic strategy for constructing them is outlined.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Inflammatory and autoimmune skin diseases are all represented by a range of mouse models both transgenic and normal. Skin cancer is mainly studied in mice and fish. Wound healing is studied in a wider range of animal species, and skin infections such as acne and leprosy also have been studied in animal models. Moving to the more consumer-oriented area of dermatology, there are models for studying the harmful effect of sunlight on the skin, and testing of sunscreens, and several different animal models of hair loss or alopecia.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Department of Dermatology, Boston MA, USA.
authors.forename: Pinar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Avci
authors.forename: Magesh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sadasivam
authors.forename: Asheesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Wanessa Cma
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: De Melo
authors.forename: Ying-Ying
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Rakkiyappan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chandran
authors.forename: Raj
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Ayodeji
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Otufowora
authors.forename: Theodore
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nyame
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Hamblin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D055808:Drug Discovery; D007249:Inflammation / Q000188:drug therapy; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy