Danio rerio: Small Fish Making a Big Splash in Leukemia.
Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are widely used for developmental biology studies. In the past decade,D. reriohave become an important oncology model as well. Leukemia is one type of cancer where zebrafish are particularly valuable. As vertebrates, fish have great anatomic and biologic similarity to humans, including their hematopoietic and immune systems. As an experimental platform,D. reriooffer many advantages that mammalian models lack. These include their ease of genetic manipulation, capacity for imaging, and suitability for large-scale phenotypic and drug screens. In this review, we present examples of these strategies and others to illustrate how zebrafish have been and can be used to study leukemia. Besides appraising the techniques researchers apply and introducing the leukemia models they have created, we also highlight recent and exciting discoveries made usingD. reriowith an eye to where the field is likely headed.
Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 941 Stanton L. Young Blvd., BSEB 229, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA barbara-squiban@ouhsc.edu.
Barbara
B
Squiban
Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, 941 Stanton L. Young Blvd., BSEB 224, Oklahoma City, OK 73104, USA.
J Kimble
JK
Frazer
Drug Screen; Leukemia; Model for pathobiology; Transgenesis; Transplantation; Zebrafish