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Germ-free humanized mice reveal a crucial role for the gut microbiota in HIV and EBV pathogenesis

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Directly analyzing the role of the gut microbiota during the course of infection with human-specific pathogens is not possible with existing methods. To overcome this problem, we developed a germ-free precision mouse model, which we used to compare the acquisition, replication and pathogenesis of HIV and Epstein–Barr virus.

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Fig. 1: The resident microbiota enhances EBV-associated tumorigenesis and HIV replication.

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This is a summary of: Wahl, A. et al. A germ-free humanized mouse model shows the contribution of resident microbiota to human-specific pathogen infection. Nat. Biotechnol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01906-5 (2023)

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Germ-free humanized mice reveal a crucial role for the gut microbiota in HIV and EBV pathogenesis. Nat Biotechnol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01908-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-023-01908-3

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