Oncogenic mutations produce similar phenotypes in Drosophila tissues of diverse origins

An emerging interest in oncology is to tailor treatment to particular cancer genotypes, i.e. oncogenic mutations present in the tumor, and not the tissue of cancer incidence. Integral to such a practice is the idea that the same oncogenic mutation(s) produces similar outcomes in different tissues. To test this idea experimentally, we studied tumors driven by a combination of Ras(V12) and scrib(1) mutations in Drosophila larvae. We found that tumors induced in tissues of neural ectodermal and mesodermal origins behaved similarly in every manner examined: cell cycle checkpoints, apoptosis, cellular morphology, increased aneuploidy and response to Taxol. We conclude that oncogenic effects override tissue-specific differences, at least for the mutations, tissues, and phenotypes studied herein.