Transgenic fly system developed to validate cancer drugs

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, NOV. 3. Scientists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here have developed a transgenic fly (fruit fly) system to screen and validate drugs against cancer.

Dr. Lalji Singh, Director of CCMB, and Dr. L.S. Shashidhara, scientist who worked on the project, told newspersons that genetically-modified flies (Drosophila melanogaster) enabled targeted expression of human colon cancer gene Adenamatous Polyposis Coli (APC) in different genetic and physiological backgrounds.

These transgenic flies constituted a novel, fast and inexpensive system for studying the functioning of this human APC, the growth-inhibiting or tumor-suppressor genes and for developing therapeutics for prevention and treatment of cancer.

The technique exploited the role of oncogenes and tumor- suppressor genes during normal growth and development. Mis- expression of human APC in developing eyes of fruit flies caused mild deformities as it inhibited normal functioning of growth- promoting oncogenes.

If a drug mimicked the APC function, it would enhance eye deformities in the flies administered with the drug. As such drugs are potential inhibitors of growth-promoting oncogenes, they would be useful in anti-cancer therapy.

They said this was the first time in the world, wherein transgenic flies had been used for drug validation. Already a U.S. and an Indian drug discovery companies had given the CCMB the contract to validate some of their potential cancer drugs using transgenic fly system. It had also been selected by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to validate some of the plant-derived bio-active molecules that had shown anti-cancer activities in cell culture studies.

Transgenic flies could be a good alternate genetic model, considering high costs involved in using mice and other mammalian models and the increased awareness of animal rights. Fruit fly was one of the well-studied genetic systems and had advantages over mice, such as low cost of maintenance in laboratory, short life cycle and relative ease with which they could be generated.

Responding to questions on the anthrax scare, Dr. Singh said there was a proposal to set up a biological containment facility here for carrying on research against infectious diseases. The CSIR was prepared to provide Rs. 25 crores.

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