The Potential of Zebrafish as a Model Organism for Improving the Translation of Genetic Anticancer Nanomedicines

Abstract

In the last few decades, the field of nanomedicine applied to cancer has revolutionized cancer treatment: several nanoformulations have already reached the market and are routinely being used in the clinical practice. In the case of genetic nanomedicines, i.e., designed to deliver gene therapies to cancer cells for therapeutic purposes, advances have been less impressive. This is because of the many barriers that limit the access of the therapeutic nucleic acids to their target site, and the lack of models that would allow for an improvement in the understanding of how nanocarriers can be tailored to overcome them. Zebrafish has important advantages as a model species for the study of anticancer therapies, and have a lot to offer regarding the rational development of efficient delivery of genetic nanomedicines, and hence increasing the chances of their successful translation. This review aims to provide an overview of the recent advances in the development of genetic anticancer nanomedicines, and of the zebrafish models that stand as promising tools to shed light on their mechanisms of action and overall potential in oncology.

Recellularized Colorectal Cancer Patient-Derived Scaffolds as In Vitro Pre-Clinical 3D Model for Drug Screening

“…To compare the findings obtained with the 3D model with an in vivo system, we successfully generated a xenotransplanted zebrafish model. We considered several advantages using the zebrafish embryos: the short generation time, the fast and external embryonic development, the large number of off-spring, and, most importantly, the transparency of the embryos, which enables live and noninvasive fluorescent imaging [44]. In our experiments, we observed that the xenotransplanted zebrafish in vivo model provided 5FU IC 50 completely comparable with the 3D model, validating what observed in our 3D patient-derived constructs.…”

The Reprimo Gene Family: A Novel Gene Lineage in Gastric Cancer with Tumor Suppressive Properties

“…The use of animal models is the primary step to understand the process of human carcinogenesis and the development of new drugs for cancer therapies [ 16 ]. In this scenario, Zebrafish combines the complexity of a whole vertebrate animal with the easy-to-use and high-throughput characteristics of in vitro models [ 17 , 18 ].…”

BSA/ASN/Pol407 nanoparticles for acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment

“…To evaluate the BSA/ASN 25% /Pol 407 nanoparticles in vivo toxicity, zebrafish embryos were selected as a model. Taking in account all the advantages of this model [34], zebrafish can also be used as a model to study hyperamonemmia since its pathophysiology appears to be similar to that in mammals. Moreover, zebrafish brains cells appear to be as sensitive to ammonia as the human brain, so they are suitable to study drugs that can act as a neuro-protector against ammonia [35].…”