Abstract 6492: Development of transparent compound zebrafish tumor microenvironment (TME) model system
Authors: Surendra Rajpurohit, Arishia Mishra, Rohan Pasi, Shubhra Rajpurohit, Sai Nasanally, Sreeja Sappati, Keyana Williams, Timothy Pham, Ethan Clegg, Kirk Kimmerling, Vishal Arora, Balakrishna Lokeshwar
Journal: Cancer Research (2025)

Abstract Transgenic (Tg) zebrafish are paramount for studying the phenotypes resulting from overexpression of selected genes globally, or in a tissue-targeted fashion and growing numbers of tissue-specific promoters are becoming available to allow very precise targeting of transgene expression. In our proposed zebrafish glioblastoma experimental therapeutic model system, the first specific aim to develop the homozygous transparent compound transgenic strains from individual transparent transgenic progenies for glioblastoma tumor microenvironment (TME). Development and generation of transparent compound transgenic line Casper; Tg(mpeg1:mcherry; islet1:GFP) to study CNS resident macrophage, microglial activity and glial cell Interaction. Development and generation of transparent compound transgenic line Casper; Tg(mpeg1:mcherry; myl7:RFP; secA5:YFP) to study microglia, cardiac function, and cell death marker Annexin-5.Development and generation of transparent compound transgenic line Casper; Tg(mpeg1:mcherry; islet1:GFP; myl7:RFP; secA5:YFP) to study microglia, glial cell, cardiac function and cell death marker Annexin-5. Development and generation of transparent compound transgenic line Casper; Tg(mpeg1:mcherry;NF-kB:GFP) to study microglia, NFkB Inflammatory activity. Development and generation of transparent compound transgenic line Casper;Tg(mpeg1:mcherry; myl7:RFP; secA5:YFP; NF-kB:GFP) to study microglia, cardiac function and cell death marker Annexin-5 and NF-kB Inflammatory activity. Development and generation of transparent compound transgenic line Casper; Tg(mpeg1:mcherry; vgfr:EGFP) and Casper; Tg(mpeg1:mcherry; kdrl:EGFP) to study microglia and blood vessels and angiogenesis. Development and generation of compound transgenic line Casper; Tg(mpeg1:mcherry;fli:GFP) to study microglia, blood vessels, and vasculature. Development and generation of compound transgenic line Casper:Tg(mpx:GFP);Tg(fms:gal4); Tg(UAS:nfsB.mCherry) to study neutrophils, macrophages inflammatory process. Development and generation of compound transgenic line: Casper:Tg(VEGFR2:AcGFP x CREST3-tag RFP-2A-NTR) to study Crest trigeminal nerve and VGFR blood vessel interaction. By developing a transparent compound transgenic zebrafish model, this specific aim will lead us to explore the glioblastoma tumor microenvironment related biological process alterations and screening of new drugs to improve the diagnosis and treatment of this deadly invasive brain tumor. Citation Format: Surendra Rajpurohit, Arishia Mishra, Rohan Pasi, Shubhra Rajpurohit, Sai Nasanally, Sreeja Sappati, Keyana Williams, Timothy Pham, Ethan Clegg, Kirk Kimmerling, Vishal Arora, Balakrishna Lokeshwar. Development of transparent compound zebrafish tumor microenvironment (TME) model system [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2025; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2025 Apr 25-30; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2025;85(8_Suppl_1):Abstract nr 6492.