Zebrafish as a practical and convenient model for the study of photodynamic and photothermal therapy of solid tumors: A scoping review

Thanks to incalculable efforts by teams of scientists and physicians over the past half-century, many cancer diagnoses that would have previously seemed terminal are now considered treatable or even curable with optimization of existing treatment strategies and the introduction of novel treatment methodologies. One rising treatment paradigm with the potential to improve patient outcomes and experiences is photomedicine, a group of light-activated treatments that can be applied systemically and activated locally. As the work of developing new phototherapeutic treatments and agents for use in cancer patients progresses, in vivo experimentation is a necessary hurdle, costing both time and resources. The use of zebrafish as a vertebrate tumor model for early-stage animal testing has the potential to increase the overall efficiency of the research process. Zebrafish are a model organism that allow for numerous tumor presentations and drug-delivery options to be tested at scale with a low turnaround time relative to other in vivo vertebrate models. The transparency of an embryonic or larval zebrafish's body allows for real-time observation of drug dispersal and effects of treatment. These qualities allow zebrafish to serve as a useful screening tool for identifying promising candidate photosensitizers before embarking on mammalian studies.