title: Drosophila as a Potential Model for Ocular Tumors.
abstract: Drosophila has made many contributions to our understanding of cancer genes and mechanisms that have subsequently been validated in mammals. Despite anatomical differences between fly and human eyes, flies offer a tractable genetic model in which to dissect the functional importance of genetic lesions found to be affected in human ocular tumors. Here, we discuss different approaches for using Drosophila as a model for ocular cancer and how studies on ocular cancer genes in flies have begun to reveal potential strategies for therapeutic intervention. We also discuss recent developments in the use of Drosophila for drug discovery, which is coming to the fore as Drosophila models are becoming tailored to study tumor types found in the clinic.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Salford, UK.
authors.forename: Daimark
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Salford, UK; North Western Deanery, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford, UK.
authors.forename: Ekaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lyulcheva
authors.affiliation: Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Salford, UK.
authors.forename: Neville
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cobbe
keywords: Cancer model; Drosophila; Ocular cancer; Ocular oncology; Retinoblastoma; Uveal melanoma