Περίληψη |
Drosophila melanogaster is a widely used genetic model organism, with characteristics
that enable scientists to study complex pathways involved in biomedical research,
including cancer. Notch signaling pathway is one the most commonly deregulated
pathways in various diseases and cancer. Notch is a key player in Drosophila brain
development and its ectopic over-activation can lead to tumorigenesis with dramatic
results. Transcriptomic data from previous work in our lab has shown that after
allografting Notch induced brain tumors into adult flies, various genes get up- or
down- regulated as the tumor progresses to a more aggressive state.
It has been indicated that the tracheal system, the analog of the respiratory system in
mammals, plays important role in tumor growth and metastasis (Grifoni et al., 2015,
Tamamouna 2021). In the transcriptomic analysis one of the genes that was found
upregulated in the most aggressive tumor stage was branchless. Branchless encodes
a Drosophila FGF homolog which is important for tracheal cell migration and
branching (Sutherland et al., 1996). Considering the above results, our study attempts
to clarify the interplay between tumor and the tracheal system in adult Drosophila
with a focus on the FGF/FGFR homologs, branchless and breathless.
As tumor progresses over time, another gene that gets upregulated is Tep4. Tep4 is a
thioester-containing protein which is involved in immune responses in Drosophila and
other insects by promoting recruitment of immune cells in response to infections
(Shokal & Eleytherianos, 2017). In this work, we examine the expression of Tep4 in the
larval and adult stages and we try to define the differential expression pattern upon
tumorigenic conditions.
Finally, guided by the transcriptomic data along with immunohistochemistry, we have
observed that Drosophila blood cells respond to allografted tumors. Here we wanted
to investigate the response of the larval hemocytes in the primary brain hyperplasia
by examining the proliferation rate of hemocytes and their differentiation into distinct
subtypes.
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