Zebrafish Model of Neuroblastoma Metastasis

Summary

This paper introduces the method of developing, characterizing, and tracking in real-time the tumor metastasis in zebrafish model of neuroblastoma, specifically in the transgenic zebrafish line with overexpression of MYCN and LMO1, which develops metastasis spontaneously.

Abstract

Zebrafish has emerged as an important animal model to study human diseases, especially cancer. Along with the robust transgenic and genome editing technologies applied in zebrafish modeling, the ease of maintenance, high-yield productivity, and powerful live imaging altogether make the zebrafish a valuable model system to study metastasis and cellular and molecular bases underlying this process in vivo. The first zebrafish neuroblastoma (NB) model of metastasis was developed by overexpressing two oncogenes, MYCN and LMO1, under control of the dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (dβh) promoter. Co-overexpressed MYCN and LMO1 led to the reduced latency and increased penetrance of neuroblastomagenesis, as well as accelerated distant metastasis of tumor cells. This new model reliably reiterates many key features of human metastatic NB, including involvement of clinically relevant and metastasis-associated genetic alterations; natural and spontaneous development of metastasis in vivo; and conserved sites of metastases. Therefore, the zebrafish model possesses unique advantages to dissect the complex process of tumor metastasis in vivo.

Introduction

Zebrafish has been widely used and applied to several areas of research, especially in cancer. This model provides many advantages-such as its robust reproduction, cost-effective maintenance, and versatile visualization of tumor growth and metastasis-all of which make zebrafish a powerful tool to study and investigate the cellular and molecular bases of tumorigenesis and metastasis. New techniques for large-scale genome mapping, transgenesis, genes overexpression or knockout, cell transplantation, and chemical screens have immensely augmented the power of the zebrafish model¹. During the past few years, many zebrafish lines have been developed ....

Protocol

All research methods using zebrafish and animal care/maintenance were performed in compliance with the institutional guidelines at Mayo Clinic.

1. Preparation and microinjection of transgene constructs for the development of LMO1 transgenic zebrafish line with overexpression in PSNS

1. To develop the LMO1-pDONR221 entry clone, amplify the coding region of human LMO1 from cDNA obtained from human cell line using PCR.
   1. Make a 25 µL reaction as detailed here: 2.5 µL of 10x standard Taq Reaction Buffer, 0.125 µL of Taq DNA Polymerase, 0.5 µL of 10 mM dNTPs, 2 &....

Results

To determine whether LMO1 synergizes with MYCN to affect NB pathogenesis, transgenic constructs that drive expression of either LMO1 (dβh:LMO1 and dβh:mCherry) or MYCN (dβh:EGFP-MYCN) in the PSNS cells under control of the dβh promoter were injected into zebrafish embryos¹³. As illustrated in Figure 1A, after the development of stable transgenic lines and validation of their genotypes, heterozygou.......

Discussion

Zebrafish has been commonly used in research for the past few decades, especially in cancer research, for obvious reasons, such as its ease of maintenance, robust reproduction, and clear advantages for in vivo imaging^1,28. The zebrafish model can be easily manipulated embryonically due to their external fertilization and development, which complements well to mammalian model organisms, such as rats and mice, for large-scale genetic studies

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
3,3’-Diaminobenzidine (DAB) Vector Kit	Vector	SK-4100
Acetic Acid	Fisher Scientific / Acros Organic	64-19-7
Agarose GP2	Midwest Scientific	009012-36-6
Anti-Tyrosine Hydroxylase (TH) Antibody	Pel-Freez	P40101
Avidin/Biotin Blocking Kit	Vector	SP-2001
BOND Intense R Detection	Leica Biosystems	DS9263
BOND primary antibody diluent	Leica Biosystems Newcastle, Ltd.	AR9352
BOND-MAX IHC instrument	Leica Biosystems Newcastle, Ltd.	N/A	fully automated IHC staining system
CH211-270H11 BAC clone	BACPAC resources center (BRFC)	N/A
Compound microscope equipped with DP71 camera	Olympus	AX70
Cytoseal XYL (xylene based mounting medium)	Richard-Allan Scientific	8312-4
Eosin	Leica	3801601	ready-to-use (no preparation needed)
Ethanol	Carolina	86-1263
Expand Long Template PCR System	Roche Applied Science, IN	11681834001
Gateway BP Clonase II enzyme mix	Invitrogen, CA	11789-020
Gateway LR Clonase II enzyme mix	Invitrogen, CA	11791-100
Goat anti-Rb secondary antibody (Biotinylated)	Dako	E0432
Hematoxylin Solution, Harris Modified	Sigma Aldrich Chemical Company Inc. / SAFC	HHS-32-1L
HRP Avidin D	Vector	A-2004
Hydrochloric Acid	Aqua Solutions	4360-1L
Hydrogen Peroxide, 3%	Fisher Scientific	H324-500
I-SceI enzyme	New England Biolabs, MA	R0694L
Kanamycin sulfate	Teknova, Inc.	K2150
Kimberly-Clark Professional Kimtech Science Kimwipes	Fisher Scientific	34133
Lithium Carbonate	Sigma Aldrich Chemical Company Inc. / SAFC	554-13-2
Microtome for sectioning	Leica Biosystems	RM2255
One Shot TOP10 Chemically Competent E. coli	Invitrogen	C404006
p3E-polyA	Dr. Chi-Bin Chien, Univ. of Utah	N/A	a generous gift (Please refer to webpage http://tol2kit.genetics.utah.edu/index.php/Main_Page to obtain material, which is freely distrubted as described.)
Parafin wax	Surgipath Paraplast	39603002	Parrafin to parafin
Paraformaldehyde	Alfa Aesar	A11313
pDEST vector (modified destination vector containing I-SceI recognition sites)	Dr. C. Grabher, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany	N/A	a generous gift
pDONR 221 gateway donor vector	Thermo Fisher Scientific	12536-017
pDONRP4-P1R donor vector	Dr. Chi-Bin Chien, Univ. of Utah	N/A	a generous gift
Phenol red, 0.5%	Sigma Aldrich	P0290
Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS), 10X	BioRad	1610780
Picrosirrius red stain kit	Polysciences	24901-250
pME-mCherry	Addgene	26028
Proteinase K, recombinant, PCR Grade	Roche	21712520
QIAprep Spin MiniPrep Kit	Qiagen	27104
RDO Rapid Decalcifier	Apex Enginerring	RDO04
Sodium Azide (NaN3)	Sigma Aldrich	26628-22-8
Stereo fluorescence microscope	Leica	MZ10F
Stereoscopic fluorescence microscope equipped with a digital sight DS-U1 camera for imaging	Nikon	SMZ-1500
Taq DNA Polymerase	New England Biolabs, MA	M0273L
Tissue-Tek VIP® 6 AI Vacuum Infiltration Processor	Sakura	N/A	Model #: VIP-6-A1
Tricaine-S	Western Chemical Incorporated	20513
Xylene	Thermo Fisher Scientific	X3P1GAL