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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jul 5.
Published in final edited form as: Adv Exp Med Biol. 2016;916:335–369. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-30654-4_15

Table 2.

Summary of zebrafish models of leukemia

Tumor Method Transgenes or genes disrupted Earliest
disease onset		 Characteristics/application References
T-ALL Stable transgenesis rag2:EGFP-mMyc 22 days The first zebrafish transgenic model of cancer [81]
T-ALL Cre/lox-regulated rag2:loxP-dsRed2-loxP-EGFP-
mMyc
Cre mRNA injection		 4 months Similar to human T-ALL subtype with SCL
and LMO2/LMO1 activation		 [64]
T-ALL Cre/lox-regulated rag2:loxP-dsRed2-loxP-EGFP-
mMyc;hsp70:Cre 		2 months Heat-shock inducible;
Elucidation of genetic basis of T-LBL
dissemination to T-ALL;
Determined the effect of p53 inactivation on
Myc-induced T-ALL onset		 [88–90]
T-ALL Tamoxifen-regulated rag2:MYC-ER;mitfa 4 weeks Mechanistic dissection of MYC-PTEN-AKT-
BIM regulation;
Small molecule screens to identify
perphenazine with anti-leukemic activity		 [63, 90, 91]
T-ALL Stable transgenesis rag2:EGFP-ICN1 5 months Demonstrated the effect of bcl-2 to accelerate
ICN1-induced T-ALL onset		 [83]
T-ALL Transient transgenesis rag2:Myr-Akt2 6 weeks Determined the role of Akt2 in T-ALL
maintenance and progression		 [63, 89]
T-ALL Random ENU-mediated
mutagenesis		 srk
hlk
otg 		3–6 months Discovery of potential new genetic players
for T-ALL		 [92]
B-ALL Stable transgenesis β-actin:EGFP-TEL-AML1
ef1:EGFP-TEL-AML1 		8 months The first B-ALL model in zebrafish;
Provided a tool for enhancer screens		 [82]
AML Stable transgenesis pu.1:MYST3-NCOA2-EGFP 14 months Demonstrated the oncogenic potential of the
MYST3-NCOA2 fusion protein in vivo		 [84]
MPN Cre/lox-regulated β-actin:loxP-dsRed2-loxP-
KRASG12D;
hsp70-Cre 		3–6 months The first zebrafish MPN model;
Studied the role of MAP/ERK pathway
in MPN		 [93]
MPN Stable transgenesis hsp70:AML1-ETO 1-dpf embryos Expanded myelopoiesis in embryos with gene
expression resembling human AML;
Small molecule screens to identify the Cox1
inhibitor		 [94, 95]
MPN Cre/lox-regulated pu.1:loxP-EGFP-loxP-NUP98-
HOXA9;
hsp70-Cre 		19–23 months Zebrafish MPN model induced by
NUP98-HOXA9;
Applicable for small molecule screens		 [96]
MPN GAL4-UAS-regulated fli1:GAL4-FF;
UAS-GFP-HRASG12V 		Embryos Discovery of repression of NOTCH signaling
by RAS expression		 [97]
MPN Transient mRNA injection Cytoplasmic NPM1 mutant Embryos Increased primitive myeloid cells [98]
MPN Transient expression of
mRNA		 RUNX1-CBF2T1 Embryos Perturbation of normal hematopoiesis [99]
MPN Heat-shock inducible
Stable transgenesis		 EGFP:HSE:mMycN 2 months Myeloid blasts infiltration in zebrafish organs [100]
MDS TALENs tet-2 inactivation 11 months Utilized genome editing technology to
generate a MDS model in zebrafish		 [101]
MDS TILLING pu.1G242D 18 months Expanded myelopoiesis;
Tested current standard therapeutics
on these fish		 [71]