Fruit Fly May Change Birth Defect Studies

A Queen’s University study using fruit flies has identified the genes affected by a widely prescribed drug known to cause birth defects.

Methotrexate, or MTX, is a popular cancer-fighting drug also used to treat psoriasis, ectopic pregnancies, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus. The drug remains in the body for a long time and causes birth defects among children whose mothers have it in their systems.

But scientists at the Kingston, Ontario, school say their study using fruit flies allowed researchers to identify the genes on which the drug acts.

While identifying that gene array is significant in its own right, the successful use of fruit flies in the study was a revelation to the researchers who view it as an efficient model for the initial testing of rescue therapies to try to prevent birth defects.

They said scientists can study the effect of a drug on the genes of as many as three generations of fruit flies within a month, speeding up study times while keeping costs low.

Fruit flies are already used as models for aging, neural disease and cancer.

The findings are to be published next year by the journal Toxicological Sciences.