Cancer progression to metastatic dissemination is responsible for ∼90% of deaths in patients. Tremendous efforts have been made to understand primary tumor growth, cancer genetics, and clonal evolution, but also secondary sites of colonization. Intravital imaging technologies are instrumental in understanding key steps of the metastasis cascade, which are believed to be therapeutically relevant targets. However, these remain cumbersome in mouse models. Recent work has demonstrated the zebrafish’s unique ability as an experimental metastasis model for the dynamic study of cancer progression at the single-cell level. Its compatibility with state-of-the art imaging techniques and biophysical approaches allows probing of the interaction of tumor cells with their microenvironment and monitoring of fast and rare cellular events at high spatiotemporal resolution. In this review, we highlight the multiple benefits of the zebrafish as an alternative metastasis preclinical model from an imaging standpoint.

癌症进展为转移性扩散导致约90％的患者死亡。为了了解原发性肿瘤的生长，癌症的遗传学和克隆的进化，以及定居的次要位置，人们做出了巨大的努力。活体成像技术有助于理解转移级联反应的关键步骤，这些关键步骤被认为是治疗上相关的靶标。但是，这些在鼠标模型中仍然很麻烦。最近的工作证明了斑马鱼作为实验性转移模型的独特能力，可以在单细胞水平上动态研究癌症的进展。它与最新的成像技术和生物物理方法兼容，可探测肿瘤细胞与其微环境的相互作用，并以高时空分辨率监测快速和罕见的细胞事件。在这篇综述中，我们从成像的角度强调了斑马鱼作为替代性转移前临床模型的多重益处。