Zebrafish liver: Tg(fabp10a:pt-beta-catenin) versus non-transgenic control siblings

To investigate mechanisms by which activated β-catenin signaling promotes liver tumor formation and to identify potential therapeutics for these cancers, we generated transgenic zebrafish expressing hepatocyte-specific activated β-catenin (Tg(fabp10a:pt-β-cat) zebrafish. As adults, these animals show increased liver size, decreased survival, and histologic abnormalities similar to human HCC. To further characterize our model, we used microarray analysis to compare gene expression in Tg(fabp10a:pt-β-cat) zebrafish livers to that of non-transgenic control sibling livers. This experiment includes 2 biological replicates. Each replicate represents one Tg(fabp10a:pt-beta-catenin) zebrafish compared to non-transgenic control sibling.