This study documents the surprising finding that, in Drosophila, different mutations occurring in adjacent neighboring epithelial cells can cooperate to promote tumorigenesis.

Previous work from Tian Xu's lab had shown that, while epithelial cells that express RavV12, an oncogenic form of the Ras85D protein, overgrow moderately, these cells when missing apico-basal polarity, as is the case in the absence of the Scribble protein, grow into large metastatic tumors. In this paper, Wu et al. show that these two events do not need to occur in the same cell, as mutations in RasV12 and scribble can cooperate and cause tumors when present in adjacent cells. Further, they show that this process is mediated by activation of the JAK/STAT kinase pathway that is induced as a result of activation of the kinase JNK in cells that lack Scribble activity. These studies underscore the importance of "context" in the development of human cancers.

http://f1000biology.com/article/id/1556034/evaluation