02255nas a2200277   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002260001200043653001200055653002400067653002500091653002700116653002400143653001600167653001500183653001100198653002400209653002700233100001800260245008400278856006400362300001200426490000700438520151800445022001401963       2014                            d  c2014-1110aAnimals10aBiomedical Research10aChromosome Inversion10aDisease Models, Animal10aEpigenesis, Genetic10aGene Fusion10aHaplorhini10aHumans10aSpecies Specificity10aTranslocation, Genetic1 aJarrod Bailey00aMonkey-based research on human disease: the implications of genetic differences  uhttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/026119291404200504  a287-3170 v423 aAssertions that the use of monkeys to investigate human diseases is valid scientifically are frequently based on a reported 90-93% genetic similarity between the species. Critical analyses of the relevance of monkey studies to human biology, however, indicate that this genetic similarity does not result in sufficient physiological similarity for monkeys to constitute good models for research, and that monkey data do not translate well to progress in clinical practice for humans. Salient examples include the failure of new drugs in clinical trials, the highly different infectivity and pathology of SIV/HIV, and poor extrapolation of research on Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and stroke. The major molecular differences underlying these inter-species phenotypic disparities have been revealed by comparative genomics and molecular biology - there are key differences in all aspects of gene expression and protein function, from chromosome and chromatin structure to post-translational modification. The collective effects of these differences are striking, extensive and widespread, and they show that the superficial similarity between human and monkey genetic sequences is of little benefit for biomedical research. The extrapolation of biomedical data from monkeys to humans is therefore highly unreliable, and the use of monkeys must be considered of questionable value, particularly given the breadth and potential of alternative methods of enquiry that are currently available to scientists.  a0261-1929