Review--Drosophila as a model for inflammation, innate immunity and cancer

Wang L, Kounatidis I, Ligoxygakis P. Drosophila as a model to study the role of blood cells in inflammation, innate immunity and cancer. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2014 Jan 9;3:113. PMID: 24409421; PMCID: PMC3885817.

Study in mice and flies implicates Parkin in defense against pathogens. Recent report.

Manzanillo PS, Ayres JS, Watson RO, Collins AC, Souza G, Rae CS, Schneider DS, Nakamura K, Shiloh MU, Cox JS. The ubiquitin ligase parkin mediates resistance to intracellular pathogens. Nature. 2013 Sep 26;501(7468):512-6. PMID: 24005326.

Relevant review--fly model & host defense

Ferrandon D. The complementary facets of epithelial host defenses in the genetic model organism Drosophila melanogaster: from resistance to resilience. Curr Opin Immunol. 2013 Feb;25(1):59-70. Review. PMID: 23228366.

Immunity and age-related disease. Recent review.

This open access review discusses fly models related to aging and immunity.

Eleftherianos I, Castillo JC. Molecular mechanisms of aging and immune system regulation in Drosophila. Int J Mol Sci. 2012;13(8):9826-44. PubMed PMID: 22949833

Fly research links innate immunity and neurodegenerative disease. Recent Review.

Petersen AJ, Wassarman DA. Drosophila innate immune response pathways moonlight in neurodegeneration. Fly (Austin). 2012 Jul 1;6(3). PubMed PMID: 22864563.

Relevant genes include tefu (also called ATM for Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated) and specifically, flies carrying the temperature-sensitive "8" allele of ATM are used as a model of Ataxia-telangiectasia (also called Louis-Bar syndrome). The relevant stock at the BDSC appears to be this one.

The review features work from these three research publications.

Petersen AJ, Rimkus SA, Wassarman DA. ATM kinase inhibition in glial cells activates the innate immune response and causes neurodegeneration in Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Mar 13;109(11):E656-64. Epub 2012 Feb 21. PubMed PMID: 22355133; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3306708.

Chinchore Y, Gerber GF, Dolph PJ. Alternative pathway of cell death in Drosophila mediated by NF-κB transcription factor Relish. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Mar 6;109(10):E605-12. Epub 2012 Feb 10. PubMed PMID: 22328149; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3309745.

Tan L, Schedl P, Song HJ, Garza D, Konsolaki M. The Toll-->NFkappaB signaling pathway mediates the neuropathological effects of the human Alzheimer's Abeta42 polypeptide in Drosophila. PLoS One. 2008;3(12):e3966. Epub 2008 Dec 17. PubMed PMID: 19088848; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2597734.