Fluorescent imaging of cancer in zebrafish

Zebrafish are an ideal model organism to research cancer. Zebrafish embryos and larvae are optically translucent, which has made imaging multiple processes in development and disease possible. When coupled with fluorescent imaging techniques, zebrafish are fast becoming a model of choice for following tumor formation. This is highlighted by recent studies using fluorescent proteins to image xenograft transplantation, neovascularization, growth responses to drug treatments, and self-renewal. Fluorescent labeled tumors can be generated in zebrafish by multiple methods including chemical mutagenesis, oncogene expression by mosaic or stable transgenesis, or genetic mutations that are predisposing to cancer. In this chapter, we highlight the studies that have employed fluorescence to follow critical aspects of tumorigenesis, with particular focus on providing methods for labeling, isolating, transplanting, and imaging fluorescently labeled tumors in zebrafish.