title: Towards a molecular understanding of human diseases using Dictyostelium discoideum.
abstract: The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is increasingly being used as a simple model for the investigation of problems that are relevant to human health. This article focuses on several recent examples of Dictyostelium-based biomedical research, including the analysis of immune-cell disease and chemotaxis, centrosomal abnormalities and lissencephaly, bacterial intracellular pathogenesis, and mechanisms of neuroprotective and anti-cancer drug action. The combination of cellular, genetic and molecular biology techniques that are available in Dictyostelium often makes the analysis of these problems more amenable to study in this system than in mammalian cell culture. Findings that have been made in these areas using Dictyostelium have driven research in mammalian systems and have established Dictyostelium as a powerful model for human-disease analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology and the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK. robin.williams@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Robin S B
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boeckeler
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gräf
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Müller-Taubenberger
authors.forename: Zhiru
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ralph R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Isberg
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wessels
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Soll
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alexander
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000378:metabolism; D018385:Centrosome / Q000502:physiology; D002633:Chemotaxis; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D016952:Legionella pneumophila / Q000254:growth & development; D007877:Legionnaires' Disease / Q000378:metabolism; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000378:metabolism; D009504:Neutrophils / Q000166:cytology; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013577:Syndrome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D015800:Protozoan Proteins