Dissecting Oncogenic RAS Signaling in Melanoma Development in Genetically Engineered Zebrafish Models

Hyper-activation of RAS signaling pathways causes cancer, including melanoma, and RAS signaling pathways have been successfully targeted using drugs for patient benefit. The available drugs alone cannot cure cancer, however, and so investigation continues into RAS signaling pathways, with the goal of identifying further actionable targets. The zebrafish can be used to model human malignancies, and genetic modification of zebrafish to incorporate selective disease-associated genetic alterations is practicable. The following article describes the methods we are using to genetically modify zebrafish in order to dissect oncogenic RAS signaling in melanoma development.