Using Drosophila to model oncogenic cooperation

Speaker: Hector Herranz, Associate Professor, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, UCPH
Host: Kim Rewitz, Cell and Neurobiology

Abstract: Cancer is driven by the sequential acquisition of mutations. Analyses of mutations in cancer genes have yielded many insights into the molecular and cellular events involved in cellular transformation. In recent years, factors encoded by cancer genes have become targets for successful anticancer drug development. Hence, identification of genetic alterations contributing to tumorigenesis and metastasis formation is a critical aspect for understanding and treating cancer.

Mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressors are present in many epithelial tumors and have been recognized as driver mutations in human cancer. However, much remains to be learned about other factors that cooperate with these elements in cancer initiation and progression. Drosophila has proven to be a powerful system for studying cancer. Our laboratory has developed a Drosophila epithelial transformation model to search for mutations that cooperate with driver mutations in tumor initiation and disease progression.