Application of Cell Culture Models in Studying Viral Diseases (SARS, H1N1 Flu, MERS, COVID-19): A Review

The emergence of recent viral outbreaks, especially the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting global mortality and damage has created an urgent need to accelerate the identification, prevention, and treatment of these viral diseases. Due to the limitations in the use of humans, and animal models in terms of time, costs, metabolism differences and ethical issues, in vitro models have become essential in virology research. In the present review, we collected the application of several used cell culture models in studies on four pathogenic viruses - severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), influenza A virus (H1N1), middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). These models included, 2D and 3D cell culture (organoids, microfluidic-chips, and bioprinted models). A collection of existing research on these viruses can help fight against the SARS-CoV-2 virus and speed it up against future emerging viruses. Moreover, it can show the shortcomings of in vitro models in virology studies that have been performed to date and provide researchers with new ideas for developing models that are more efficient to deal with similar viral outbreaks.