Article Analysis Essay on Cancer Biology

Introduction

The study investigated the impact of human NA9 oncoprotein expression in the Drosophila larval hematopoiesis stage. Baril et al. (2017) found out that NA9 transgenic flies have numerous resemblances with the mammalian models. For Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to develop, hematopoietic tissues overgrowth is induced but solely depends on increased cell proliferation (Baril et al., 2017). For NA9 to be active, homeodomain (HD) and PBX interacting motif (PIM) domains, as well as a NUP98 moiety, are required. The collaboration of NA9 and the fly MEIS homolog (HTH) is essential in addition to NA9 influence on signaling elicitation from PVR which is connected to mammalian RTKs related to leukemia.

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The study also linked interference of PVR signaling caused by the growth of NA9 in the lymph gland. This is because PVR is crucial in many biological processes related to immunity in Drosophila. For instance, PVR is involved in wasp parasitism response, migration of embryonic hemocyte migration, immune challenges, and the regulation of hemocyte survival. According to Baril et al. (2017), the NA9 dampening of PVR signaling is unknown, but the study found out that NA9 causes the interference of the function of NUP98 and disturb PVR as well as antagonizing downstream signaling occurrences triggered by PVR. Furthermore, the study suggested that the cortical zone (CZ) influences the medullary zone (MZ) and modulates the non-cell posterior signaling center (PSC) and morphology either through the MZ or directly. Through this study, it has been concluded that progenitor cells in the MZ are under the maintenance of integrating signals which emanates from the CZ (Mondal et al., 2011). This study has made it possible that in mammals, there is secretion of mitogenic factors from the NA9 expressing CZ's Drosophila hemocytes.

The quality of the images used in the study are not up to standard because some of them are not clear enough for the reader to decipher the NA9 action on the lymph glands. The images are labeled, but the authors do not provide any explanation of how the NA9 induces the overgrowth of the lymph gland. This should have been done because it is essential in giving details of how the immunofluorescence staining of the lymph glands was done. Additionally, the image quality could be improved to allow the reader to see what the authors are pointing out.

The results of the study are precise, but the does not correspond to some aspects that pertain Human NUP98-HOXA9 promoting the hyperplastic growth of hematopoietic tissues in Drosophila. For instance, Baril et al. (2017) linked the growth promoting the activity of NA9 to the interference of PVR signaling, yet the authors admit that their data which they collected and analyzed did not support this model. Additionally, Baril et al. (2017) are not sure whether an NA9 activity may provoke the signaling incidences that are stimulated by PVR. This may dint the objectives of the study.

Conclusion

Furthermore, the images are labeled using letters, instead of adding arrows that can help in explaining the immunostaining that was carried out and the results of the study. In figures 5, 6, and 7, for instance, there are no corresponding explanations of the images used, while the graphs are not well labeled as they do not indicate what the horizontal axis represents. This is a significant flaw in the study because the reader cannot tell what the authors have plotted against the Quantification of GFP+ cells per lymph gland (LG). The authors also used some long sentences in their study that may hamper the reading and the comprehension of the interpreted results. This should have been avoided to make reading easy.

References

Baril, C., Gavory, G., Bidla, G., Knaevelsrud, H., Sauvageau, G., & Therrien, M. (2017). Human NUP98-HOXA9 promotes hyperplastic growth of hematopoietic tissues in Drosophila. Developmental Biology, 421(1), 16-26.

Mondal, B. C., Mukherjee, T., Mandal, L., Evans, C. J., Sinenko, S. A., Martinez-Agosto, J. A., & Banerjee, U. (2011). Interaction between differentiating cell-and niche-derived signals in hematopoietic progenitor maintenance. Cell, 147(7), 1589-1600.