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Al-Hamaly MA, Turner LT, Rivera-Martinez A, Rodriguez A, Blackburn JS. Zebrafish Cancer Avatars: A Translational Platform for Analyzing Tumor Heterogeneity and Predicting Patient Outcomes. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:2288. [PMID: 36768609 PMCID: PMC9916713 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24032288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2023] [Revised: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The increasing number of available anti-cancer drugs presents a challenge for oncologists, who must choose the most effective treatment for the patient. Precision cancer medicine relies on matching a drug with a tumor's molecular profile to optimize the therapeutic benefit. However, current precision medicine approaches do not fully account for intra-tumoral heterogeneity. Different mutation profiles and cell behaviors within a single heterogeneous tumor can significantly impact therapy response and patient outcomes. Patient-derived avatar models recapitulate a patient's tumor in an animal or dish and provide the means to functionally assess heterogeneity's impact on drug response. Mouse xenograft and organoid avatars are well-established, but the time required to generate these models is not practical for clinical decision-making. Zebrafish are emerging as a time-efficient and cost-effective cancer avatar model. In this review, we highlight recent developments in zebrafish cancer avatar models and discuss the unique features of zebrafish that make them ideal for the interrogation of cancer heterogeneity and as part of precision cancer medicine pipelines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Majd A. Al-Hamaly
- Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40356, USA
- Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
| | - Logan T. Turner
- Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
- Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40356, USA
| | | | - Analiz Rodriguez
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA
| | - Jessica S. Blackburn
- Markey Cancer Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA
- Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40356, USA
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Gatzweiler C, Ridinger J, Ayhan S, Najafi S, Peterziel H, Witt O, Oehme I. Evaluation of Antitumor and On-Target Activity of HDAC Inhibitors with the Zebrafish Embryo Xenograft Model. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2589:75-85. [PMID: 36255618 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2788-4_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Reliable preclinical drug testing models for cancer research are urgently needed with zebrafish embryo models emerging as a powerful vertebrate model for xenotransplantation studies. Here, we describe the evaluation of toxicity, efficacy, and on-target activity of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in a zebrafish embryo yolk sac xenotransplantation model of medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma cells. For this, we performed toxicity assays with our zebrafish drug library consisting of 28 clinically relevant targeted as well as chemotherapeutic drugs with zebrafish embryos. We further engrafted zebrafish embryos with fluorescently labeled pediatric tumor cells (SK-N-BE(2)-C, HD-MB03, or MED8A) and monitored the progression after HDAC inhibitor treatment of xenotransplanted tumors through tumor volume measurements with high-content confocal microscopy in a multi-well format. The on-target activity of HDAC inhibitors was verified through immunohistochemistry staining on paraffin-embedded early larvae. Overall, the zebrafish embryo xenotransplantation model allows for fast and cost-efficient in vivo evaluation of targeted drug toxicity, efficacy, and on-target activity in the field of precision oncology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charlotte Gatzweiler
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Oncology, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Faculty of Medicine, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Johannes Ridinger
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Oncology, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Simay Ayhan
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Oncology, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Faculty of Biosciences, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University of Heidelberg Medical Center, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Sara Najafi
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Oncology, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University of Heidelberg Medical Center, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Heike Peterziel
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Oncology, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Olaf Witt
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Oncology, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Department of Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, University of Heidelberg Medical Center, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Ina Oehme
- Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
- Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Oncology, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
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Wu JQ, Fan RY, Zhai J, Li CY, Wei P, Shen LZ, He MF, Wang P, Huang XE. Docetaxel and 5-FU enhanced the inhibitory effects of apatinib and ramucirumab on growth and migration of gastric cancer. Life Sci 2022; 296:120439. [PMID: 35235851 DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2022.120439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Revised: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world. The clinical benefit of anti-angiogenic strategy as a single drug is limited. Some studies showed that the combination of anti-angiogenic therapy and chemotherapy exhibited synergistic effect and reduced the side effects of chemotherapy drugs. We investigated the combined effects of these two types of drugs in gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. METHODS cell viability, migration, invasion, and apoptosis were evaluated by CCK-8, wound-healing, transwell, and Annexin V-FITC/PI assay, respectively. In vivo anti-cancer efficacy was tested for the cell proliferation and metastasis in cell line derived tumor xenograft (CDX) model and patient derived tumor xenografted (PDX) model based on Tg (fli-1: EGFP) zebrafish embryos; RESULTS: In the cell experiments, the combination of the two types of drugs could inhibit the proliferation and metastasis of gastric cancer cells and promote apoptosis through VEGFR-2/AKT/ERK1/2 signal. In the zebrafish CDX (zCDX) model and zebrafish PDX (zPDX) model, the combination of the two treatment also showed a synergistic effect in inhibiting gastric cancer cell metastasis and cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS Apatinib/ramucirumab targeted therapy combined with docetaxel or 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) may serve as an effective treatment strategy for patients with advanced gastric cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jia-Qi Wu
- College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211800, China
| | - Ruo-Yue Fan
- College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211800, China
| | - Jing Zhai
- Department of Surgical Oncology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210029, China
| | - Chong-Yong Li
- College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211800, China
| | - Ping Wei
- College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211800, China
| | - Li-Zong Shen
- Department of Surgical Oncology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210029, China
| | - Ming-Fang He
- College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 211800, China.
| | - Ping Wang
- Department of Medical Oncology, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital & Jiangsu Institute of Cancer Research & The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210009, China.
| | - Xin-En Huang
- Department of Medical Oncology, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital & Jiangsu Institute of Cancer Research & The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210009, China.
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Gatzweiler C, Ridinger J, Herter S, Gerloff XF, ElHarouni D, Berker Y, Imle R, Schmitt L, Kreth S, Stainczyk S, Ayhan S, Najafi S, Krunic D, Frese K, Meder B, Reuss D, Fiesel P, Schramm K, Blattner-Johnson M, Jones DTW, Banito A, Westermann F, Oppermann S, Milde T, Peterziel H, Witt O, Oehme I. Functional Therapeutic Target Validation Using Pediatric Zebrafish Xenograft Models. Cancers (Basel) 2022; 14:849. [PMID: 35159116 DOI: 10.3390/cancers14030849] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Revised: 01/29/2022] [Accepted: 02/03/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Despite the major progress of precision and personalized oncology, a significant therapeutic benefit is only achieved in cases with directly druggable genetic alterations. This highlights the need for additional methods that reliably predict each individual patient’s response in a clinically meaningful time, e.g., through ex vivo functional drug screen profiling. Moreover, patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models are more predictive than cell culture studies, as they reconstruct cell–cell and cell–extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions and consider the tumor microenvironment, drug metabolism and toxicities. Zebrafish PDXs (zPDX) are nowadays emerging as a fast model allowing for multiple drugs to be tested at the same time in a clinically relevant time window. Here, we show that functional drug response profiling of zPDX from primary material obtained through the INdividualized Therapy FOr Relapsed Malignancies in Childhood (INFORM) pediatric precision oncology pipeline provides additional key information for personalized precision oncology. Abstract The survival rate among children with relapsed tumors remains poor, due to tumor heterogeneity, lack of directly actionable tumor drivers and multidrug resistance. Novel personalized medicine approaches tailored to each tumor are urgently needed to improve cancer treatment. Current pediatric precision oncology platforms, such as the INFORM (INdividualized Therapy FOr Relapsed Malignancies in Childhood) study, reveal that molecular profiling of tumor tissue identifies targets associated with clinical benefit in a subgroup of patients only and should be complemented with functional drug testing. In such an approach, patient-derived tumor cells are exposed to a library of approved oncological drugs in a physiological setting, e.g., in the form of animal avatars injected with patient tumor cells. We used molecularly fully characterized tumor samples from the INFORM study to compare drug screen results of individual patient-derived cell models in functional assays: (i) patient-derived spheroid cultures within a few days after tumor dissociation; (ii) tumor cells reisolated from the corresponding mouse PDX; (iii) corresponding long-term organoid-like cultures and (iv) drug evaluation with the corresponding zebrafish PDX (zPDX) model. Each model had its advantage and complemented the others for drug hit and drug combination selection. Our results provide evidence that in vivo zPDX drug screening is a promising add-on to current functional drug screening in precision medicine platforms.
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