A research group led by Professor Takashi Nishimura and Assistant Professor Yuto Yoshinari (Laboratory of Metabolic Regulation and Genetics) and by Technical Staff Takayuki Yamada at the RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research has elucidated a mechanism by which cells resistant to cell death can be induced to die using the model organism, Drosophila melanogaster.
The research is expected to be used and applied as a new biological model to induce cell death in cells that are resistant to cell death, such as cancer cells. This study also revealed a strong link between protein homeostasis and cell death susceptibility. Disruption of protein homeostasis is closely associated with several diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes. Therefore, this study may contribute to our understanding of the pathogenesis of age-related diseases.

For details of the research, please click here.