Zebrafish: from disease modeling to drug discovery

Area of Science:

• Developmental biology
• Genomics
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are a key model organism in developmental biology.
• Their use is expanding to model human diseases across various therapeutic areas.
• Existing models cover blood diseases, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, neurodegenerative disorders, angiogenesis, and lipid metabolism.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in developing zebrafish disease models.
• To outline the potential of zebrafish in drug discovery.
• To highlight zebrafish utility in identifying and validating drug targets and screening compounds.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of recent studies on zebrafish disease models.
• Analysis of zebrafish model applications in different therapeutic areas.
• Evaluation of zebrafish in drug target identification, validation, and compound screening.

Main Results:

• Significant progress has been made in creating zebrafish models for diverse human diseases.
• Zebrafish models offer a platform for understanding disease mechanisms.
• These models are valuable for preclinical drug discovery and development.

Conclusions:

• Zebrafish are a powerful and versatile tool for modeling human diseases.
• They hold substantial potential for accelerating drug discovery pipelines.
• Further development and application of zebrafish models will advance therapeutic strategies.