How a tiny worm is helping to reveal the mystery of human tumors’ formation and the development of cancer drug candidates

During the past decades, the roundworm C. elegans has been in the center of multiple biological research discoveries. Today, we are going to go through how C. elegans are currently used for cancer research studies.

From cell division studies to drug candidates

C. elegans has been an emerging biological model for studies investigating cancer progression in the past years since the gene families of this nematode count with fewer members and, thereupon, it considerably reduces genetic redundancy (Kyriakakis, Markaki, & Tavernarakis, 2014). Deregulation of energy metabolism, stem cell reprogramming and host-microflora interactions are some of the multiple cancer research lines that use our favorite nematode.

“We study how the worm develops and apply this knowledge to understanding what goes wrong during cell division that causes cancer. We are also interested in the mechanisms behind how tumor cells invade surrounding tissues and move to other locations, creating new tumors. If we can block this mechanism, we can prevent metastasis.” explains Dr. Chin-Sang, developmental biologist at Queen’s University.

Although C. elegans don’t develop cancer in the same way as humans do, they count with tumor suppressor genes, which makes them an ideal biological model to investigate the underlying mechanisms of mutations that lead to defective cell division and movement. Therefore, understanding said mutations and genetic predispositions blocking the tumor suppressor genes is key in the race against cancer.