Modeling Cancers in Drosophila

• Published in: Animal Models of Human Disease Vol. 100; pp. 51 - 82
• Main Authors: Polesello, Cédric, Roch, Fernando, Gobert, Vanessa, Haenlin, Marc, Waltzer, Lucas
• Format: Book Chapter Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Science & Technology 2011
• Subjects: Animal model; Animals; Cancer; Cell Differentiation; Cell Polarity; Cell Proliferation; CLINICAL & INTERNAL MEDICINE; Disease Models, Animal; Drosophila; Drosophila melanogaster - physiology; Ecological science, the Biosphere; Genetic screens; Medical laboratory testing & techniques; Neoplasms - pathology; Animal model; Genetic screens; Drosophila; Cancer
• DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-384878-9.00002-9
• ISBN: 0123848784; 9780123848789
• ISSN: 1877-1173; 1878-0814

The basic cellular processes deregulated during carcinogenesis and the vast majority of the genes implicated in cancer appear conserved from humans to flies. This conservation, together with an ever-expanding fly genetic toolbox, has made of Drosophila melanogaster a remarkably profitable model to study many fundamental aspects of carcinogenesis. In particular, Drosophila has played a major role in the identification of genes and pathways implicated in cancer and in disclosing novel functional relationships between cancer genes. It has also proved to be a genetically tractable system where to mimic cancer-like situations and characterize the mode of action of human oncogenes. Here, we outline some advances in the study of cancer, both at the basic and more translational levels, which have benefited from research carried out in flies.