Zebrafish Embryo Xenograft and Metastasis Assay
: Ilkka Paatero, Sanni Alve, Silvia Gramolelli, Johanna Ivaska, Päivi M. Ojala
Publisher: Bio-protocol LLC
: Sunnyvale, CA, USA
: 2018
: Bio-protocol
: Bio-protocol
: e3027
: 8
: 18
: 14
: 2331-8325
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3027(external)
: https://bio-protocol.org/e3027(external)
Xenograft models, and in
particular the mouse xenograft model, where human cancer cells are transplanted into immunocompromised mice,
have been used extensively in cancer studies. Although these models have
contributed enormously to our understanding of cancer biology the zebrafish
xenograft model offers several advantages over the mouse model. Zebrafish embryos
can be easily cultured in large quantities, are small and easy to handle,
making it possible to use a high number of embryos for each experimental
condition. Young embryos lack an efficient immune system. Therefore the injected cancer cells are not rejected,
and the formation of primary tumors and micrometastases is rapid. Transparency
of the embryos enables imaging of primary tumors and metastases in an intact
and living embryo. Here we describe a method where GFP expressing tumor cells are injected into pericardial space of
zebrafish embryos. At four days post-injection, the embryos are imaged and the formation
of primary tumor and distant
micrometastases are analysed.