Invertebrate oncology: tumor-host interactions in the Drosophila model

There is a large gap between the deep understanding of mechanisms driving oncogenic transformation and the reasons why patients ultimately succumb to cancer. We now appreciate that interactions between the tumor and surrounding non-tumor (‘host’) cells play critical roles in mortality as well as tumor progression, but many mechanisms remain unknown. Drosophila’s high conservation of biology and genetics with humans has powered its long track record of high-impact discoveries; the reductionist fly system is particularly well-suited to probe mysteries of tumor–host interactions. I will discuss our use of Drosophila cancer models to study ‘paraneoplasias’ such as cachexia, coagulopathy, and fluid dysregulation, and will present unpublished work on anti-tumor immunity and immune evasion in this experimentally tractable invertebrate.