Cytochrome P450 Humanized Mice for Drug Development Research in Africa

Rose Hayeshi of North-West University in South Africa will test whether humanized mouse models harboring selected gene variants specific to indigenous African populations can be used to identify novel therapeutics that will be effective in this population before advancing into clinical trials. Most medicines are developed and tested in European and Asian populations, which can lead to approved drugs that cause adverse reactions or are ineffective in African populations. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme allelic variants are common in African populations and may affect drug responses. She will use humanized mouse models expressing CYP2B6 and the CYP2B6*6 allelic variant, which is common in African populations, to test whether they can recapitulate specific drug responses observed in vitro and in humans using physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling.