Zebrafish Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Models

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is a highly malignant liver cancer that is difficult to diagnose even at an early stage. ICC occurs in the epithelial bile ducts of the bile ducts and exhibits completely different features from hepatocellular carcinoma. Although it is a relatively rare malignancy, there has been a steady and substantial increase in people developing intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma over the past 30 years. To date, the specific mediators responsible for the malignant transformation of chronically injured livers remain largely unknown. Furthermore, ICC is difficult to diagnose and is often associated with high mortality due to its late clinical presentation and lack of effective non-surgical treatment. Therefore, it is very important to construct animal models of ICC and identify disease-specific biomarkers.

With advances in transgenic technology over the past few decades, zebrafish has become a high-throughput and cost-effective experimental model for cancer research, including lymphocytic T-cell leukemia, melanoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, and pancreatic cancer. Zebrafish has unique advantages as a cancer model. For example, zebrafish share highly conserved anatomical structures and homologous organs with higher vertebrates, including humans. Furthermore, the transparency of zebrafish embryos enables direct observation of tumor development and regression processes. Due to the high conservation of molecular features and progression between zebrafish and human liver tumors, several molecular studies have used zebrafish as a model for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Fig.1 Induction of ICC in Transgenic Zebrafish Liver.

Our Zebrafish Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma Models

Creative Biogene has established excellent liver cancer zebrafish models that can spontaneously develop a variety of liver diseases including steatosis, cholestasis, hyperplasia/hyperproliferation and ICC. These models can spontaneously develop persistent hepatocyte injury, steatosis, cholestasis, cholangitis, fibrosis, and liver tumors, mimicking the pathological progression of human liver disease and cancer with persistent liver injury, cholestasis, and decreased C3 activity.

In conclusion, our models are not only useful for studying the molecular mechanisms of tumorigenesis, but can also be used to explore new therapeutic targets. We aim to provide you with a great tool to study molecular events involved in bile duct tumor progression through a zebrafish model.

Advantages

• Easy observation of tumorigenesis and tumor-induced phenotypes in live animals
• Multiple induction models
• Mass mutagenesis
• Recapitulate typical features of human ICC
• High-throughput screening of anti-ICC drugs

Creative Biogene is dedicated to providing new insights into the pathogenesis of liver cancer and helping advance the evaluation of novel anti-tumor drugs. If you would like to learn more about zebrafish models, please feel free to contact us.

References

1. Wang J, et al. The construction of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma model in zebrafish. Sci Rep. 2017, 7(1):13419.
2. Huang SJ, et al. Inducible liver-specific overexpression of gankyrin in zebrafish results in spontaneous intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and hepatocellular carcinoma formation. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2017, 490(3):1052-1058.

For research use only. Not intended for any clinical use.