The Role of Fruit Flies in the Fight Against Cancer

You might not think of fruit flies as more than a household nuisance, but cancer researchers have big plans for these tiny creatures. Their value to science deals with the cancer tissues information that fruit flies provide. Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly is being used in a variety of ways. Not only can drosophila help researchers pinpoint cancer tissue but they also aid in the understanding of how cancer tissues form in the human body.

In January of 2014, German and Italian biologists from the University of Konstanz employed fruit flies to identify cancer tissue by scent. Honey bees and dogs have exhibited similar abilities, but this batch of fruit flies was genetically modified to give off a specific color signature for different types of breast cancer cells. The researchers allowed different scents to waft over the tiny insects and studied their reactions under the microscope. When the fruit flies encountered cancer tissue, the genetic modifications made their antennas glow. In this experiment, researchers were able to obtain cancer tissues information that could one day be used for early detection in actual patients and thus save human lives.