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Updated: Feb 21, 2026

Zebrafish Model of Neuroblastoma Metastasis
Published on: March 14, 2021
Microenvironment-Driven Shift of Cohesion/Detachment Balance within Tumors Induces a Switch toward Metastasis in
Céline Delloye-Bourgeois1, Lorette Bertin1, Karine Thoinet1
1University of Lyon, University of Lyon 1 Claude Bernard Lyon1, NeuroMyoGene Institute, CNRS UMR5310, INSERM U1217, 16 rue Raphael Dubois, F-69000 Lyon, France.
Abstract:
Neuroblastoma (NB) is a childhood cancer arising from sympatho-adrenal neural crest cells. Disseminated forms have high frequency of multiple tumoral foci whose etiology remains unknown; NB embryonic origin limits investigations in patients and current models. We developed an avian embryonic model driving human NB tumorigenesis in tissues homologous to patients. We found that aggressive NBs display a metastatic mode, secondary dissemination via peripheral nerves and aorta. Through tumor transcriptional profiling, we found that NB dissemination is induced by the shutdown of a pro-cohesion autocrine signal, SEMA3C, which constrains the tumoral mass. Lowering SEMA3C levels shifts the balance toward detachment, triggering NB cells to collectively evade the tumor. Together with patient cohort analysis, this identifies a microenvironment-driven pro-metastatic switch for NB.
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