Children who are exposed to cranial radiation therapy (CRT) to treat brain tumours are at increased risk later in life for neurocognitive, motor and seizure disorders. Current radioprotective agents are difficult to administer and have severe side effects. Thus, Barry Ganetzky and colleagues used Drosophila to model and elucidate the toxic effects of CRT during juvenile development. First, they found that irradiating fly larvae with different doses of radiation reduces the percentage of animals that survive to adulthood and impairs motor activity of surviving adults, in a dose-dependent manner. These phenotypes are paralleled by an increased expression of activated death caspase-1, a cell death marker, in adult brains. Then, using flies at different developmental stages, they found that the toxic effects of radiation exposure become more severe with decreasing larval age at time of irradiation. Notably, flies with different genetic backgrounds show different sensitivity to radiation. Thus, Drosophila represents a useful system to model CRT-induced toxicity and to dissect key molecular and genetic pathways. These, in turn, might illuminate potential targets for radioprotective purposes. Page
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July 2015
DMM Journal Meeting 2023: Infectious Diseases Through an Evolutionary Lens
The abstract submission deadline for our 2023 Journal Meeting ‘Infectious Diseases Through an Evolutionary Lens’ is 14 July 2023. Find out more and register here.
The Forest of Biologists
The Forest of Biologists is a biodiversity initiative created by The Company of Biologists, with support from the Woodland Trust. For every Research and Review article published in Disease Models & Mechanisms a native tree is planted in a UK forest. In addition to this we are protecting and restoring ancient woodland and are dedicating these trees to our peer reviewers. Visit our virtual forest to learn more.
Propose a new Workshop for 2025
Do you have an idea for a Workshop? If so, click here. We are now accepting proposals for our 2025 Workshops programme. As the scientific organiser, your involvement will be focused on the science. We'll take care of all the logistics. In 2025 we'll continue our efforts to diversify our Workshop programme and will be reserving one of our Workshops for an application from a Global South country to host an event overseas.
How stromal cells restrict liver cancer invasion
In our recent editor’s choice, Liqin Zhu and colleagues describe how they used in vitro liver spheroid models consisting of both parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells to reveal a hepatoprotective role for peritumoral hepatic stellate cells in liver tumorigenesis.
And from perspective… Hacking haematopoiesis – emerging tools for examining variant effects
Thousands of genomic loci have been linked to hematopoietic traits and diseases, yet many await functional validation. Michael Gundry and Vijay G. Sankaran discuss recent advances in genome editing and the challenges associated with using these techniques to assess variant function in primary hematopoietic cells.
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