Zebrafish Tuberculosis Models

Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is one of the major health challenges facing developing and underdeveloped countries worldwide. Up to one-third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a pathogen that continues to kill 1.5 million people each year. At present, the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis are not satisfactory. One of the main reasons for the slow progress of TB research is the lack of good animal models to study the incubation period, dormancy and reactivation of the disease.

Although the mammalian animal models primarily used for tuberculosis research, namely mice, rabbits and guinea pigs, do develop granulomatous structures, only primates are natural hosts for M. tuberculosis and show true latency and repopulation. activation. However, the use of primates as laboratory animals is difficult in terms of ethical and economic issues and space constraints. Natural host-pathogen pairs may be a more reliable model when considering drug and vaccine development.

Since mycobacterial infections can cause epidemics in fish farms, aquariums, and zebrafish facilities, inoculating fish with M. marinum, a close relative of M. tuberculosis, has potential economic value and ecological relevance. Recently, zebrafish has emerged as a useful alternative to more traditional models such as mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, and non-human primates for studying the complex pathophysiology of mycobacterial infection.

M. marinum infection in adult zebrafish can lead to latent or active progressive disease.

M. marinum is the marine counterpart of the tuberculosis branch and has all the essential functions required to initiate granulomatous disease. Similar to human tuberculosis, mycobacteriosis in fish exhibits both acute and chronic forms, with subsequent formation of granulomas that also resemble lesions caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Zebrafish Tuberculosis Models

The zebrafish models established by Creative Biogene provide a feasible tool for screening anti-TB drugs and early vaccine development, and our models help you to dissect in more detail the effective immune response and bacterial countermeasures at each stage of TB infection. Our zebrafish models can also be used to supplement human patient data to identify reliable biomarkers for diagnosing different stages of TB.

Advantages

• Safer to work with M. marinum and has a shorter replication time than M. tuberculosis.
• Transparency of embryos allows use of sophisticated in vivo live imaging techniques.
• Suitable for large-scale screening studies, including drug screening.

References

1. Myllymäki H, et al. The Zebrafish Breathes New Life into the Study of Tuberculosis. Frontiers in immunology. 2016,7:196.
2. Decostere A, et al. Piscine mycobacteriosis: a literature review covering the agent and the disease it causes in fish and humans. Vet Microbiol. 2004,99:159–66.
3. O'Garra A, et al. The immune response in tuberculosis. Annu Rev Immunol. 2013,31:475–527.
4. Harriff MJ, et al. Experimental exposure of zebrafish, Danio rerio (Hamilton), to Mycobacterium marinum and Mycobacterium peregrinum reveals the gastrointestinal tract as the primary route of infection: a potential model for environmental mycobacterial infection. J Fish Dis. 2007, 30:587–600.

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