Comparison in Drosophila of 13 different human RASopathy isoforms points to differences in pathways affected and therapeutic responses

iScience. 2021 Mar 13;24(4):102306. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102306.

Drosophila RASopathy models identify disease subtype differences and biomarkers of drug efficacy.

Das TK, Gatto J, Mirmira R, Hourizadeh E, Kaufman D, Gelb BD, Cagan R

Abstract:

RASopathies represent a family of mostly autosomal dominant diseases that are caused by missense variants in the rat sarcoma viral oncogene/mitogen activated protein kinase (RAS/MAPK) pathway including KRAS, NRAS, BRAF, RAF1, and SHP2. These variants are associated with overlapping but distinct phenotypes that affect the heart, craniofacial, skeletal, lymphatic, and nervous systems. Here, we report an analysis of 13 Drosophila transgenic lines, each expressing a different human RASopathy isoform. Similar to their human counterparts, each Drosophila line displayed common aspects but also important differences including distinct signaling pathways such as the Hippo and SAPK/JNK signaling networks. We identified multiple classes of clinically relevant drugs-including statins and histone deacetylase inhibitors-that improved viability across most RASopathy lines; in contrast, several canonical RAS pathway inhibitors proved less broadly effective. Overall, our study compares and contrasts a large number of RASopathy-associated variants including their therapeutic responses.

DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102306
PMCID: PMC8026909
PMID: 33855281

Conflict of interest statement: B.G. declares royalties from GeneDx, Correlegan, LabCorp, and Prevention Genetics. B.G. is a named inventor on issued patents related to PTPN11, SHOC2, RAF1, and SOS1 mutations in Noonan syndrome. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai licensed the patent to several diagnostics companies and has received royalty payments, some of which are distributed to B.G. B.G. and R.C. are principal investigators for a sponsored research agreement from Onconova.