LOOKING INSIDE DISEASE: The wild-type zebrafish larva on the left is stained for the two neuronal proteins (green) and membrane-trafficking proteins expressed near synapses (blue). On the right, the neurons of a transgenic zebrafish larva produce the dementia-associated Tau protein (red), a disease-specific form of which is stained in blue. Tubulin is stained in green.COURTESY OF DOMINIK PAQUET, THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK, USA
From frogs to dogs and people, cancer wreaks havoc across the animal kingdom—and fish are no exception. Coral trout, for example, develop melanoma from overexposure to sun, just as humans do. Rainbow trout develop liver cancer in response to environmental toxins. And zebrafish—small, striped fish indigenous to the rivers of India and a widely used model organism—are susceptible to both malignant and benign tumors of the brain, nervous system, blood, liver, pancreas, skin, muscle, and intestine.
Importantly, tumors that arise in the same organs in humans and fish look and behave alike, and the cancers often share common genetic underpinnings. As a result, most researchers believe that the basic mechanisms underlying tumor formation are conserved across species, allowing them to study the formation, expansion, and ...
