Functional Analysis of Thymosin Beta-4 Using Over-Expressing Transgenic Mice

The study investigated the plasticity of human metastatic melanoma cells by exposing them to a developmental microenvironment in zebrafish embryos. It was found that these melanoma cells, when transplanted into zebrafish embryos, survived for up to two weeks, exhibited motility, and appeared to proliferate, but crucially, they were no longer tumorigenic. In contrast, normal human melanocytes and fibroblasts also survived in the embryos but did not show motility or proliferation. The study highlighted the significant influence of the embryonic microenvironment on the tumorigenicity of metastatic melanoma cells, demonstrating their ability to adapt to developmental cues while maintaining their dedifferentiated phenotype.