The incidence of infections due to nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) has increased rapidly in recent years, surpassing tuberculosis in developed countries. Due to inherent antimicrobial resistance, NTM infections are particularly difficult to treat with low cure rates. There is an urgent need to understand NTM pathogenesis and to develop novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of NTM diseases. Zebrafish have emerged as an excellent animal model due to genetic amenability and optical transparency during embryonic development, allowing spatiotemporal visualization of host–pathogen interactions. Furthermore, adult zebrafish possess fully functional innate and adaptive immunity and recapitulate important pathophysiological hallmarks of mycobacterial infection. Here, we report recent breakthroughs in understanding the hallmarks of NTM infections using the zebrafish model.

近年来，非结核分枝杆菌（NTM）感染的发病率迅速上升，在发达国家已超过结核病。由于固有的抗菌药物耐药性，NTM 感染特别难以治疗，治愈率很低。迫切需要了解 NTM 发病机制并开发治疗 NTM 疾病的新治疗方法。由于胚胎发育过程中的遗传适应性和光学透明性，斑马鱼已成为一种优秀的动物模型，可以实现宿主与病原体相互作用的时空可视化。此外，成年斑马鱼具有功能齐全的先天性和适应性免疫，并概括了分枝杆菌感染的重要病理生理学特征。在这里，我们报告了最近使用斑马鱼模型在理解 NTM 感染特征方面取得的突破。