Tumorigenesis drosophila diet

Diets that restrict caloric or protein intake offer a variety of benefits, including decreasing the incidence of cancer. However, whether such diets pose a substantial therapeutic benefit as auxiliary cancer treatments remains unclear. We determined the effects of severe protein depletion on tumorigenesis in a Drosophila melanogaster intestinal tumor model, using a human RAF gain-of-function allele. Severe and continuous protein restriction significantly reduced tumor growth but resulted in premature death...

Oncogenes often promote cell death as well as proliferation. How oncogenes drive these diametrically opposed phenomena remains to be solved. A key question is whether cell death occurs as a response to aberrant proliferation signals or through a proliferation-independent mechanism. Here, we reveal that Src, the first identified oncogene, simultaneously drives cell proliferation and death in an obligatorily coupled manner through parallel MAPK pathways. The two MAPK pathways diverge from a lynchpin protein Slpr...

Metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes are associated with increased cancer incidence. Here, we show that hyperinsulinemia promotes epithelial tumorigenesis by abrogating cell competition. In Drosophila eye imaginal epithelium, oncogenic scribble (scrib) mutant cells are eliminated by cell competition when surrounded by wild-type cells. Through a genetic screen, we find that flies heterozygous for the insulin receptor substrate chico allow scrib cells to evade cell competition and develop into tumors. Intriguingly, chico is required in the brain's insulin-producing cells (IPCs) to execute cell competition remotely...

Because old age is associated with defects in circadian rhythm, loss of circadian regulation is thought to be pathogenic and contribute to mortality. We show instead that loss of specific circadian clock components Period (Per) and Timeless (Tim) in male Drosophila significantly extends lifespan. This lifespan extension is not mediated by canonical diet-restriction longevity pathways but is due to altered cellular respiration via increased mitochondrial uncoupling. Lifespan extension of per mutants depends on mitochondrial uncoupling in the intestine...

Cancer cells demand excessive nutrients to support their proliferation but how cancer cells sense and promote growth in the nutrient favorable conditions remain incompletely understood. Epidemiological studies have indicated that obesity is a risk factor for various types of cancers. Feeding Drosophila a high dietary sugar was previously demonstrated to not only direct metabolic defects including obesity and organismal insulin resistance, but also transform Ras/Src-activated cells into aggressive tumors. Here we demonstrate that Ras/Src-activated cells are sensitive to perturbations in the Hippo signaling pathway...

The control of cellular growth is tightly linked to the regulation of protein synthesis. A key function in translation initiation is fulfilled by the 5' cap binding eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E), and dysregulation of eIF4E is associated with malignant transformation and tumorigenesis . In mammals, the activity of eIF4E is modulated by phosphorylation at Ser209 by mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK)-interacting kinases 1 and 2 (Mnk1 and Mnk2) , which themselves are activated by ERK and p38 MAPK in response to mitogens, cytokines or cellular stress ...