Zebrafish Avatar to Develop Precision Breast Cancer Therapies

Background: Zebrafish (Danio rerio) is a vertebrate that has become a popular alternative model for the cellular and molecular study of human tumors and for drug testing and validating approaches. Notably, zebrafish embryos, thanks to their accessibility, allow rapid collection of in vivo results prodromal to validation in the murine models in respect to the 3R principles. The generation of tumorxenograft in zebrafish embryos and larvae, or zebrafish avatar, represents a unique opportunity to study tumor growth, angiogenesis, cell invasion and metastatic dissemination, interaction between tumor and host in vivo avoiding immunogenic rejection, representing a promising platform for the translational research and personalized therapies. Objective: In this mini-review, we report recent advances in breast cancer research and drug testing that took advantage of the zebrafish xenograft model using both breast cancer cell lines and patient'sbiopsy. Conclusion: Patient derived xenograft, together with the gene editing, the omics biotechnology, the in vivo time lapse imaging and the high-throughput screening that are already set up and largely used in zebrafish, could represent a step forward towards precision and personalized medicine in the breastcancer research field.

Automated summary

Zebrafish is an ideal model for studying human tumors and drug testing, especially during its embryonic stage for rapid collection of in vivo results. The use of zebrafish xenograft model allows for the study of tumor growth, angiogenesis, cell invasion, and metastatic dissemination, providing a promising platform for translational research and personalized therapies.