PUBLICATION
Modeling human brain tumours in flies, worms, and zebrafish: From proof of principle to novel therapeutic targets
- Authors
- Shahzad, U., Taccone, M.S., Kumar, S.A., Okura, H., Krumholtz, S., Ishida, J., Mine, C., Gouveia, K., Edgar, J., Smith, C., Hayes, M., Huang, X., Derry, W.B., Taylor, M., Rutka, J.T.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-210101-11
- Date
- 2020
- Source
- Neuro-Oncology 23(5): 718-731 (Review)
- Registered Authors
- Hayes, Madeline
- Keywords
- C. elegans, Drosophila, Worms, Zebrafish, brain tumour, high-throughput screening, signaling pathways
- MeSH Terms
-
- Animals
- Brain Neoplasms*/drug therapy
- Brain Neoplasms*/genetics
- Caenorhabditis elegans
- Drosophila melanogaster
- Humans
- Mice
- Signal Transduction
- Zebrafish*
- PubMed
- 33378446 Full text @ Neuro Oncol.
Citation
Shahzad, U., Taccone, M.S., Kumar, S.A., Okura, H., Krumholtz, S., Ishida, J., Mine, C., Gouveia, K., Edgar, J., Smith, C., Hayes, M., Huang, X., Derry, W.B., Taylor, M., Rutka, J.T. (2020) Modeling human brain tumours in flies, worms, and zebrafish: From proof of principle to novel therapeutic targets. Neuro-Oncology. 23(5):718-731.
Abstract
For decades, cell biologists and cancer researchers have taken advantage of non-murine species to increase our understanding of the molecular processes that drive normal cell and tissue development, and when perturbed, cause cancer. The advent of whole genome sequencing has revealed the high genetic homology of these organisms to humans. Seminal studies in non-murine organisms such as D. melanogaster, C. elegans, and D. rerio identified many of the signaling pathways involved in cancer. Studies in these organisms offer distinct advantages over mammalian cell or murine systems. Compared to murine models, these three species have shorter lifespans, are less resource intense, and are amenable to high-throughput drug and RNA interference screening to test a myriad of promising drugs against novel targets. In this review, we introduce species specific breeding strategies, highlight the advantages of modeling brain tumours in each non-mammalian species, and underscore the successes attributed to scientific investigation using these models. We conclude with an optimistic proposal that discoveries in the fields of cancer research, and in particular neuro-oncology, may be expedited using these powerful screening tools and strategies.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping