Drosophila Cancer Modeling Using the Eye Imaginal Discs

Cancer is a devastating disease resulting from uncontrolled cell proliferation producing tumors and invasion/metastasis of cells resulting in secondary tumors. The underlying genetic defects occur in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes and in genes that promote cancer cell survival. Here, we describe the development of preclinical models to study cancer biology using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Specifically, we focus on mutants that cause benign and metastatic tumors in flies and tumor models developed using the Drosophila eye-antennal imaginal discs (EADs) as a model system (e.g., MEN2). We discuss the key role these Drosophila models play in unraveling tumor-specific signaling interactions that promote growth and the discovery of molecular signals that may play instrumental roles in inhibiting tumor growth and progression. We also discuss recent information yielded by transcriptome analyses leading to the identification of tumor-specific transcription factor networks that can provide insights about altered signaling and gene regulation in cancer cells and may help identify molecular therapeutic targets. This chapter provides an update on techniques and models developed in Drosophila EADs, and also some key models developed in other tissues that have proven informative not just for the fly tumors but also for mammalian models and human tumors.