Animal models of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis.

Experimental animal models of Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis (ABPA) serve several purposes. Both common and distinct pathological features occurring in natural and experimental diseases are of great interest as they serve to identify the key elements in the pathogenesis. Experimentally induced diseases can be modeled to understand the various parameters such as antigen and route of exposure, genetic background and the role of response modifiers in the disease process. Furthermore, animals with targeted gene-deletion or with insertion of transgenes have been studied to define the roles of specific cells, receptors and mediators in the pathogenesis. The resulting conclusions have been used to formulate hypothesis, which have to be tested for their application to human disease.