Genetics and mechanisms of ovarian cancer: Parallels between Drosophila and humans

• Ovarian cancers are among the top five causes of death from all cancers in women. Around 90% of ovarian cancers are of epithelial origin.
• Drosophila follicle development includes tissue invasion and hormonal control of cell spreading, hallmarks of epithelial ovarian cancers.
• Work in Drosophila has revealed new tumour suppressor genes and epigenetic factors involved in the progression of human ovarian cancer.
• The Drosophila ovary has therefore proven to be a suitable model in which to study the genetics and the mechanisms behind human ovarian cancer.

Considering the degree of detail available at the genetic and cellular levels, the Drosophila ovary stands out as a powerful system to identify new players in the regulation of key aspects of cancer progression. In this review, we will comment on how the use of the Drosophila ovary has helped to elucidate some of the molecular bases of ovarian malignancies and to identify and characterize critical tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes with an impact in human pathologies.