Scientists at Uppsala University, Sweden, have created a new way to study brain cancer tumours and partly replace the use of mice models with zebrafish.
In the findings, published in Neuro-Oncology, cancer cells were transplanted from patients into zebrafish embryos, followed by an artificial intelligence analysis to monitor any tumour growth and treatment.
Professor Sven Nelander, who led the study, explained that not all cancer cells can grow in mouse models: “We saw that the cells that didn’t grow in zebrafish didn’t grow in mice either. If the method can be used to predict how cells will function in mice, we can reduce the number of mice that are used in other studies.”