Development of a Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Leptomeningeal Disease Model in Zebrafish

Leptomeningeal disease occurs when cancer cells migrate into the ventricles of the brain and spinal cord and then colonize the meninges of the central nervous system. The triple-negative subtype of breast cancer often progresses toward leptomeningeal disease and has a poor prognosis because of limited treatment options. This is due, in part, to a lack of animal models with which to study leptomeningeal disease. Here, we developed a translucent zebrafish casper (roy-/-; nacre-/-) xenograft model of leptomeningeal disease in which fluorescent labeled MDA-MB-231 human triple-negative breast cancer cells are microinjected into the ventricles of zebrafish embryos and then tracked and measured using fluorescent microscopy and multimodal plate reader technology. We then used these techniques to measure tumor area, cell proliferation, and cell death in samples treated with the breast cancer drug doxorubicin and a vehicle control. We monitored MDA-MB-231 cell localization and tumor area, and showed that samples treated with doxorubicin exhibited decreased tumor area and proliferation and increased apoptosis compared to control samples.