Injection of human neuroblastoma cells into neural crest streams in live zebrafish embryos

Cancer cell behavior is highly microenvironment dependent, yet we have a limited understanding of malignant cell-microenvironment interactions in vivo. Here, we describe a protocol for xenotransplanting human neuroblastoma (NB) cells into streams of migrating neural crest stem cells in zebrafish embryos, followed by confocal time-lapse imaging and cell tracking. This high-resolution model system facilitates the quantitative spatiotemporal analysis of cancer cell-cell and cell-environment interactions. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Treffy et al. (2021).

Automated summary

This article describes a method for xenotransplanting human neuroblastoma cells into zebrafish embryos, allowing for high-resolution imaging and tracking of cancer cell interactions with cells and the environment.