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Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is of the most aggressive thyroid cancer. While ATC is rare, it accounts for a disproportionately high number of thyroid cancer-related deaths. Here, we developed an ATC xenotransplant model in zebrafish larvae, where we can study tumorigenesis and therapeutic response in vivo. Using both mouse (T4888M) and human (C643)-derived fluorescently labeled ATC cell lines, we show these cell lines display different engraftment rates, mass volume, proliferation, cell death, angiogenic potential, and neutrophil and macrophage recruitment and infiltration. Next, using a PIP-FUCCI reporter to track proliferation in vivo, we observed cells in each phase of the cell cycle. Additionally, we performed long-term non-invasive intravital microscopy over 48 h to understand cellular dynamics in the tumor microenvironment at the single-cell level. Lastly, we tested two drug treatments, AZD2014 and a combination therapy of dabrafenib and trametinib, to show our model could be used as an effective screening platform for new therapeutic compounds for ATC. Altogether, we show that zebrafish xenotransplants make a great model to study thyroid carcinogenesis and the tumor microenvironment, while also being a suitable model to test new therapeutics in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Flow cytometry display individual nuclear alteration in erythrocytes of tilapia. • Nuclear alteration is accompanied by cell repair blockage caused by cadmium. • Flow cytometry is sensitive to genotoxicity detection. • Use of flow cytometer to detect polluted aquatic environments. Morphological nuclear alterations are indicative of DNA damage and have been considered excellent markers of exposure to several pollutants in aquatic environments. Flow cytometry is a powerful technique for measuring cell phenotypes in large numbers of cells in a short period of time. This technique is suited to the study of cell populations and subset identification as a function of its high-throughput and multi-parameter characteristics. We used the quantification of erythrocyte nuclear alterations to compare the techniques of imaging flow cytometry and light microscopy. The comparison used blood samples of the fish Oreochromis niloticus assayed using cadmium as a nuclear alteration-inducing agent. The results showed that imaging flow cytometry has higher sensitivity than light microscopy for detecting and quantifying erythrocytic nuclear alterations. We conclude that imaging flow cytometry can produce fast and reliable results and could potentially be useful in studies involving fish erythrocytes under normal and impacted environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]