Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Drosophila as a model for cancer drug development (review article)

Yadav AK, Srikrishna S, Gupta SC. Cancer Drug Development Using Drosophila as an in vivo Tool: From Bedside to Bench and Back. Trends Pharmacol Sci. 2016 Jun 10. pii: S0165-6147(16)30053-0. PMID: 27298020.

From the abstract: "The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has been used for modeling cancer and as an in vivo tool for the validation and/or development of cancer therapeutics. The impetus for the use of Drosophila in cancer research stems from the high conservation of its signaling pathways, lower genetic redundancy, short life cycle, genetic amenability, and ease of maintenance. Several cell signaling pathways in Drosophila have been used for cancer drug development. The efficacy of combination therapy and uptake/bioavailability of drugs have also been studied. ... The advantages and limitations of the model are discussed."

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Fat flies don't glow -- Drosophila model for obesity-related research

Men TT, Thanh DN, Yamaguchi M, Suzuki T, Hattori G, Arii M, Huy NT, Kamei K. A Drosophila Model for Screening Antiobesity Agents. Biomed Res Int. 2016;2016:6293163. PMID: 27247940.

From the abstract: "... The brummer (bmm) gene in Drosophila melanogaster is known to be homologous with human adipocyte triglyceride lipase, which is related to the regulation of lipid storage. We established a Drosophila model for monitoring bmm expression by introducing the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene as a downstream reporter of the bmm promoter. ... The Drosophila flies given high-glucose diets showed higher lipid contents, indicating the obesity phenotype; this was suggested by a weaker intensity of the GFP signal as well as reduced bmm mRNA expression. These results demonstrated that the transgenic Drosophila model established in this study is useful for screening antiobesity agents. We also report the effects of oral administration of histone deacetylase inhibitors and some vegetables on the bmm promoter activity."