Modeling childhood cancer in Drosophila melanogaster

We describe how this cancer paradigm allows assessing two critical aspects of tumorigenesis during juvenile stages: (1) viability (do animals with particular cancer mutations survive into adulthood?), and (2) tumor burden (what percentage of animals bearing the cancer mutations actually develop cancer and what is the extent of the tumor?). We highlight the potential of Drosophila as a molecular therapeutic tool for drug screening and drug repurposing of medicines already approved to treat other diseases in children, thereby accelerating the potential translation of results into humans. This preclinical animal model sustains huge potential and is cost-effective. It allows screening of thousands of compounds and genes at a relatively low cost and human efforts, opening innovative venues to explore more effective and safer treatments of childhood cancer.PMID:38556450 | DOI:10.1016/bs.mcb.2024.02.003

Source: Cancer Control - March 31, 2024 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Isabel Adrados Luc ía García-López Mario Aguilar-Aragon Eva Maranillo Mar ía Domínguez Source Type: research