PUBLICATION
A quantitative system for studying metastasis using transparent zebrafish
- Authors
- Heilmann, S., Ratnakumar, K., Langdon, E., Kansler, E., Kim, I., Campbell, N.R., Perry, E., McMahon, A., Kaufman, C., van Rooijen, E., Lee, W., Iacobuzio-Donahue, C., Hynes, R., Zon, L., Xavier, J., White, R.M.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-150819-7
- Date
- 2015
- Source
- Cancer research 75(20): 4272-82 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- van Rooijen, Ellen, White, Richard M., Zon, Leonard I.
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Algorithms
- Animals
- Animals, Genetically Modified
- Cell Line, Tumor
- Disease Models, Animal
- Gene Expression Profiling
- Melanoma/genetics
- Melanoma/metabolism
- Melanoma/pathology
- Models, Biological*
- Mutation
- Neoplasm Metastasis
- Neoplasms/genetics
- Neoplasms/metabolism
- Neoplasms/pathology*
- Transcriptome
- Zebrafish*
- PubMed
- 26282170 Full text @ Cancer Res.
Citation
Heilmann, S., Ratnakumar, K., Langdon, E., Kansler, E., Kim, I., Campbell, N.R., Perry, E., McMahon, A., Kaufman, C., van Rooijen, E., Lee, W., Iacobuzio-Donahue, C., Hynes, R., Zon, L., Xavier, J., White, R.M. (2015) A quantitative system for studying metastasis using transparent zebrafish. Cancer research. 75(20):4272-82.
Abstract
Metastasis is the defining feature of advanced malignancy, yet remains challenging to study in laboratory environments. Here we describe a high-throughput zebrafish system for comprehensive, in vivo assessment of metastatic biology. First, we generated several stable cell lines from melanomas of transgenic mitfa-BRAFV600E;p53-/- fish. We then transplanted the melanoma cells into the transparent casper strain to enable highly quantitative measurement of the metastatic process at single cell resolution. Using computational image analysis of the resulting metastases, we generated a metastasis score, ยต, that can be applied to quantitative comparison of metastatic capacity between experimental conditions. Furthermore, image analysis also provided estimates of the frequency of metastasis-initiating cells (~1/120,000 cells). Finally, we determined that the degree of pigmentation is a key feature defining cells with metastatic capability. The small size and rapid generation of progeny combined with superior imaging tools make zebrafish ideal for unbiased high-throughput investigations of cell-intrinsic or microenvironmental modifiers of metastasis. The approaches described here are readily applicable to other tumor types and thus serve to complement studies also employing murine and human cell culture systems.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping