See-Through Fish Help Cancer Research

Hugh Pickens writes "What is transparent, swims, and helps cure cancer? Caspar the friendly fish — a zebrafish bred with a see-through body to make studying disease processes easier for rapidly changing processes such as cancer, Zebrafish are genetically similar to humans in many ways and serve as good models for human biology and disease. In one experiment, researchers inserted a fluorescent melanoma tumor into the abdominal cavity of the transparent fish and by observing the fish under a microscope, they found that the cancer cells started spreading within five days and could actually see individual cells spreading. "The process by which a tumor goes from being localized to widespread and ultimately fatal is the most vexing problem that oncologists face," says Richard White, a clinical fellow in the Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital Boston. "We don't know why cancer cells decide to move away from their primary site to other parts in the body." Researchers created the transparent fish, (photo) by mating two existing zebrafish breeds, one that lacked a reflective skin pigment and the other without black pigment. The offspring had only yellow skin pigment, essentially appearing clear."

Comments

Re:ew

[Anonymous Coward]

>Zebrafish are genetically similar to humans in many ways

Yeah, yeah. That's what I kept telling the cops. They said, "'k, son, maybe so, but they're still underaged."

Thank you, thank you. I'll be here in court all week. Don't forget to tip your waiter, and don't eat the fish platter.

When..

[Smordnys s'regrepsA]

When do they breed see-through people, for the human studies?

Re:ew

[omeomi]

I'd like to see how you look with a fluorescent tumour inserted into your abdominal cavity.

It would be ironic if they cured cancer, but they had to make you transparent first...

The real breakthrough

[Joebert]

Zebrafish are genetically similar to humans in many ways and serve as good models for human biology and disease.

Fuck cancer, I wanna be transparent too !

Re:That's not a transparent fish...

[edwardpickman]

THIS is a transparent fish. I have five of these, and they never cease to amaze me.

They're pretty but having to wipe them down with Windex once a week is a pain. Oh, also they don't seem to live more than a week.

you call that a transparent fish? THIS ...

[rubycodez]

THIS is a transparent fish:

Re:ew

[Bloke down the pub]

Being transparent would be pretty cool. You could eat loads of spinach, then loads of oranges, then beetroot and watch your insides impersonate a traffic light.