Table 1.

Comparison of commonly used lab animal models in cancer research.

	Zebrafish	Mouse	Fly	Worm
Transparency	Fully transparent at embryonic stage and remain translucency through adulthood. PTU can be used to inhibit pigmentation during early embryonic development. Mutant fish line without pigments are available.	Not transparent	Transparent in larva stage and some parts of the adults	Transparent No pigmentation
Offspring size per mating	Up to 100	~3–12	Up to 500	Hermaphrodites, varies
Genetic similarity (humans genome as reference)	71%	85%	50%	52%
Immune System	Underdeveloped adaptive immune system in larvae	Intact	Does not possess acquired/adaptive immunity	Does not possess acquired/adaptive immunity
Tumor visualization	Directly visualized in vivo by microscopy	Cannot be easily visualized inside the body	Directly visualized in vivo by microscopy	Directly visualized in vivo by microscopy
Gene editing tools
Morpholino	Established	Feasible but very limited	Possible but not done yet	Possible but not done yet
Retroviral insertion mutagenesis screen	Feasible	Established	Feasible	Feasible
DNA co-injection (I-SceI) Transgenesis	Established, high efficiency	Hypothetical and not efficient	Hypothetical	Possible
CRISPR/TALENs	Established	Established	Established	Established
Tumor transplantation/Xenograft application	Efficient	Moderate to difficult	N/A	N/A
Chimeric animal development	Mouse-zebrafish Chimeric	Human-mouse Chimeric	N/A	N/A
Syngeneic model	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A
Drug screening	Established, high-throughput	Established, low-throughput	Established, high-throughput	Established, high-throughput