Genomic and Transcriptomic Approaches to Study Cancer in Small Aquarium Fish Models

Zebrafish and medaka that develop tumors have become valuable tools for experimental cancer research. With the advent of microarrays and new sequencing technologies it has become feasible to perform whole genome, exome, and transcriptome analyses in these fish models. Analyses that compare the two fish models with each other and with data from human tumors have revealed a plethora of important insights. An unexpected high degree of comparability of molecular features of fish and human tumors has been detected. Furthermore, analyses of the fish model data have uncovered molecules that have not received appropriate attention in studies on their human tumor counterparts and thus have provided valuable candidates for novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets.