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- Posted Thursday April 2, 2015
Zebrafish accelerate TGen research against pancreatic cancer
Transparent fish share many human characteristics; could help find compounds preventing spread of pancreatic tumors
PHOENIX, Ariz. - April 2, 2015 - For more than
a decade, a glassy striped fish smaller than a door key has proved
an important model organism in scientific research. Named for the
uniform horizontal stripes on the side of its body, the zebrafish
is a tiny creature that packs a punch in terms of biological
similarities with the human.
Today, scientists at the Translational Genomics Research
Institute (TGen) are using zebrafish to accelerate
investigations of pancreatic cancer, the nation's fourth-leading
cause of cancer-related death.
TGen researchers believe the zebrafish can aid in the search for
therapeutics that could help slow down, and even reverse, the
growth and spread of cancer in pancreatic cancer patients.
Amazingly, this tiny fish shares about 70 percent of the genetic
code of humans, has genetic similarities for the overwhelming
majority of genes that cause human disease, grows to maturity in a
matter of weeks, and are relatively inexpensive to manage.
Importantly, because of their transparent scales, they can provide
a window into the real-time development of cancer tumors.
"With a microscope, you can see what is wrong without having to
dissect it," said Dr. Haiyong Han, a TGen Associate Professor, head
of TGen's Pancreatic Cancer Research Unit. "You can see the tumor
just by looking into the fish."
Zebrafish are vertebrates, so they have organs similar to people,
including a pancreas, an organ near the stomach that produces
digestive juices and several key hormones.
Genes are responsible for creating proteins. An altered gene
disrupts the associated proteins, including those that lead to
cancer. By studying altered genes in zebrafish, TGen researchers
can monitor the initiation, growth and fatal effects of pancreatic
tumors, including their spread to other organs.
Even though they are small, zebrafish are relatively complex
organisms, allowing researchers to use them to mimic problems, and
solutions, in people. And because zebrafish achieve maturity within
about 3 months, researchers can compress the time otherwise needed
to study tumor development.
"Where it would take months or years in a human, it only takes
days or weeks to see the tumor growth in zebrafish," said Dr.
Daniel D. Von Hoff, TGen's Distinguished Professor and
Physician-In-Chief. "This is going to be of tremendous benefit for
our scientific investigations, and ultimately for our
patients."
Care of the zebrafish is overseen by an Institutional Animal Care
and Use Committee, or IACUC, which reviews all testing procedures
and ensures the humane treatment of the fish throughout their
lifecycle.
This year, nearly 49,000 Americans will be diagnosed with
pancreatic cancer, and more than 40,000 will die from this disease.
Median survival for patients with advanced disease is less than 6
months following diagnosis, and the 5-year survival rate is less
than 6 percent for all patients.
Pancreatic cancer's
lethal nature stems from its propensity to rapidly spread to
distant organs. Because there is no early screening test, it
usually is not diagnosed until its late stages, often when surgery
is no longer an option, making it difficult to treat.
Dr. Han will monitor the growth and dissemination of tumors in the
zebrafish and, specifically, look at the epithelial-mesenchymal
transition (EMT), in which epithelial cells gain migratory and
invasive characteristics.
This should help TGen investigators to better understand how
pancreatic cancer invades local tissue, causing pain, and how it
spreads to other organs - especially to the liver and lungs - which
often is the actual cause of death in pancreatic cancer
patients.
And because of low costs associated with maintaining zebrafish,
investigators can conduct multiple studies in relatively short
periods of time.
TGen's zebrafish project is funded by the Seena Magowitz
Foundation.
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About TGen
Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) is a Phoenix,
Arizona-based non-profit organization dedicated to conducting
groundbreaking research with life changing results. TGen is focused
on helping patients with cancer, neurological disorders and
diabetes, through cutting edge translational research (the process
of rapidly moving research towards patient benefit). TGen
physicians and scientists work to unravel the genetic components of
both common and rare complex diseases in adults and children.
Working with collaborators in the scientific and medical
communities literally worldwide, TGen makes a substantial
contribution to help our patients through efficiency and
effectiveness of the translational process. For more information,
visit:www.tgen.org.
Press Contact:
Steve Yozwiak
TGen Senior Science Writer
602-343-8704
[email protected]