Work that could lead to the first ever transgenic model of human disease in a non-human primate is unveiled in Nature this week.

Researchers from the Yerkes National Primate Research Centre in Atlanta report progress towards creating a primate model of Huntington’s disease with rhesus macaques. It’s not a full model of Huntington’s, but it’s major advance.

“Although only a ‘proof-of-principle’, their achievement is a step forward, and will undoubtedly be welcomed by those involved in developing a cure for this distressing condition,” note Stéphane Palfi and Bechir Jarraya in a related News and Views article. Palfi and Jarraya also note that the research “opens the way” to other models using non-human primates, including for familial forms of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Chris Ross, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, told New Scientist the work was “amazing”.

Here’s that News and Views article again:

The primate model generated by Yang et al. takes us another step on the long road towards developing a treatment for Huntington’s disease. The history of translational (bench-to-bedside) research in neuroscience has shown a strong correlation between the availability of relevant primate models for a given disease and the development of new treatments. But we must retain a healthy caution, as there is a need to determine how closely the characteristics of these authors’ transgenic monkeys match the spectrum of symptoms of Huntington’s disease.

Needless to say, some people see controversy here. The Daily Mail quotes PETA saying it is “there is no justification for it”. So a group opposed to all research involving animals is opposed to an experiment involving animals? Wow, thanks Daily Mail. Can you confirm the Pope is still Catholic?

The generally more reasonable RSPCA also gets involved, saying that it “completely condemns these experiments” and that “there are many different ways of carrying out research on these diseases without using primates” (Times, Daily Telegraph).

Here’s what study author Anthony Chan says, from the press release:

In the past, researchers have used transgenic mouse models to study the disease. These models do not completely parallel the brain changes and behavioural features observed in humans with HD, thus making the development of a transgenic nonhuman primate model critical to currently treating and ultimately preventing the disease.

No one likes using non-human primates in research; that’s why we spend money on researching alternatives. It is necessary to do it though, if we’re going to find cures for some of the nastier diseases out there (see the Lancet’s recent item for more on this: paper; press release).

Image: rhesus macaque monkeys at 1 month / Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University