Zebrafish play pivotal role in helping treat disease

Tropical zebrafish have helped researchers at the University of Sheffield pave the way for the discovery of new anti-inflammatory drugs to treat illnesses such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and Asthma.

A research team led by Dr Stephen Renshaw, Senior Clinical Lecturer in the Clinical Academic Unit of Respiratory Medicine at the University, have set-up a system for drug screening after finding important parallels between inflammation in the 3mm long larval fish (a similar stage to a tadpole) and in humans - proof that the zebrafish can be used to find anti-inflammatory drugs.

The team's work, which was published on-line in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, focuses on the behaviour of a key cell in inflammation called the neutrophil, using a model of neutrophil behaviour in the larvae of zebrafish. This unique model is the only way to visualise these cells during inflammation, and given the small size of zebrafish, makes drug screens a practical prospect using this approach.

After discovering parallels between inflammation in the fish and inflammation in humans, Dr Renshaw's team looked at a range of known anti-inflammatory drugs used on humans. They were able to show that a number these drugs worked in zebrafish, thereby establishing that zebrafish could be used to identify new potential therapeutics for humans.

The study, which was conducted in the University's MRC Centre for Developmental and Biomedical Genetics, is the first published proof of principle work to show that zebrafish models can be used to find anti-inflammatory drugs. It also demonstrates the power of zebrafish drug screening recently established in the University with a £1.5million translational pump-priming grant from the MRC.

It is hoped the published research will be the first of many such projects and will lead to exciting new drugs for treating patients with inflammatory diseases, including respiratory illnesses.

Dr Stephen Renshaw, Senior Lecturer Clinical Academic Unit of Respiratory Medicine in the University of Sheffield´s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, said: "I am very excited by the potential of zebrafish to find new drugs for human inflammatory diseases as we currently have few effective treatments for the large numbers of patients with respiratory disease in Sheffield.

"This success is only the first of a range of zebrafish drug screens, which I am hopeful will provide real benefits to health in the coming years."

For further information, please contact Dr Stephen Renshaw at:

email : s.a.renshaw@sheffield.ac.uk