Investigating Cell-Cell Interactions through Wg and Yki signaling in Drosophila Glioma

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a devastating form of primary brain cancer with poor prognosis. Capitalizing on the mutations found in GBM patients and the similarities between mammalian and Drosophila genes involved in glial cell biology, Drosophila glioblastoma models have been established that show similarities to anaplastic glia from high-grade human glioma. High grade glioma is known to be recurrent and therapy resistant. These aspects of GBM lead us to ask how different genetic signals (JNK, Wg and Yki) contribute to promoting glioma, and if interactions between glioma cells and the neighboring stromal cells play a role in the key aspects of disease presentation- the rapid growth, the therapy resistance, and the recurrent phenotype. So far, we have downregulated Wg and Yki to analyze their affects glioma growth. Here we present our progress from these studies