|
|
New chemical-genetics techniques can be used with Drosophila to screen for potential anti-cancer drugs.
|
Using Drosophila Embryonic Divisions for Real-time
Cytological Profiling of Anti-cancer Drugs
The speed of the cortical syncytial divisions, combined with the ability to
perform detailed real-time imaging, has enabled us to perform
unprecedented detailed real-time morphological phenotypic analysis of
cell cycle mutations. This analysis motivated us to perform similar studies
with cell cycle inhibitors and anti-cancer drugs. One advantage of this type
of analysis is that it provides detailed temporal as well as morphological
information on the effects of experimental therapies. Even for well
characterized drugs, new insights into their mechanism of action can be
obtained. For example, our timing information has revealed that two
commonly used anti-cancer topo-isomerase inhibitors compromise the S-
phase checkpoint. We are now performing functional sensitivity studies
by applying these drugs to checkpoint-compromised Drosophila lines. The
combined cytological and genetic information provides a means to
uniquely profile each drug. We believe this information will be directly
relevant to the development of more effective chemotherapies. Currently,
we are developing clonal approaches to better assay the ability of drugs to
inhibit tumor progression in specific genetic backgrounds.
|
