Discovery of novel oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes via genetic interactions with Drosophila Cbl.

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Cancer is a complex genetic disease resulting from an accumulation of mutations that allow a cell to escape its normal growth controls. The cell can then multiply indefinitely to produce a tumour. We still only know the nature of some of these mutations, and the genes that they affect. Recently the fruitfly, Drosophila, has gained increasing importance in the discovery of new cancer genes and understanding how they function. The long history of genetic studies with this organism, and the recent completion of the DNA sequence of the entire genetic code of the fruitfly allows a wealth of experiments to be conducted on how mutations affect growth and development. We have used the fruitfly to investigate how a particular cancer gene, v-cbl, causes cells to lose growth control and are now using this organism in a systematic way to discover new cancer genes. We will then map these genes onto the human genome to determine if these genes are also responsible for human cancers.