Oliwia Stelmach, Dominika Leoniec

Current opportunities and limitations of using zebrafish model in cancer research with particular emphasis on breast cancer: a systematic review

2025-12-01

Subject of the Study. The subject of this study was to evaluate the advantages and limitations of an innovative laboratory animal model based on the use of zebrafish. The functionality of the model was evaluated by describing both its general characteristics and those that play an important role in research directly related to carcinogenesis and related processes, particularly those concerning breast cancer. The fish model was compared with the currently most popular animal model based on the use of rodents.

Objective of the Study. The aim of this review was to discuss the reasons for the growing interest in the use of the zebrafish model in preclinical research, particularly in experimental oncology, and to compare its usefulness with that of the mouse laboratory model. To highlight the prospects and advantages of using Danio rerio in research on carcinogenesis and related processes, a review of studies directly focused on preclinical breast cancer research was conducted. To maintain objectivity in the assessment, attention was paid to the currently known limitations of the zebrafish model.

Materials and Methods. To achieve the above objective,  research and review articles indexed in the  Pubmed, Mendeley, and Science Direct were analyzed, with the databases searched using the following keywords: “zebrafish”, “mouse model”, “cancerogenesis”, “cancer metastasis”, and “breast cancer”. The literature was selected with particular attention to works published between 2020 and 2025, but individual works published between 2015 and 2019 were also used due to their recognized usefulness and high relevance to the discussed issues.

Results. The information gathered in this study allows us to conclude that the use of zebrafish in cancer research is highly conditioned. The fish model has been used in research focused, among other things, on the search for new substances with anticancer properties and the evaluation of their properties and effects, the exploration of knowledge about metastatic processes, and the development of personalized medicine methods. Zebrafish match and, in some respects, even surpass the capabilities of the most popular laboratory models to date, increasing the prospects for conducting research in vivo at the single-cell level. Compared to its numerous advantages, the disadvantages and limitations, such as relatively high susceptibility to disease and difficulty in maintaining xenotransplantation in adult, immunocompetent individuals, do not diminish the research potential of the Danio rerio model.

Conclusions. The research model based on the use of zebrafish has features and advantages that are not characteristics of the most popular contemporary in vivo and in vitro laboratory models. The zebrafish model effectively fulfills its role in experimental oncology and facilitates the exploration of issues that were previously difficult or even impossible to explore. This review recognizes the high probability of further development of the prospects for the use of Danio rerio, not only in the field of research on cancerogenesis and related processes, but also in preclinical research in general.

Keywords: Zebrafish, mouse model, cancerogenesis, cancer metastasis, breast cancer.

© Farm Pol, 2025, 81(3): 157–169