Using Drosophila oogenesis to define the role of prostaglandin signaling in collective invasive cell migration

During embryonic development, cells not only rapidly divide to make more copies of themselves, but also large groups of cells must undergo coordinated movement or migration events. After fetal development, many migration events still occur within the body, for example during wound healing or during breast development. These coordinated cell migrations, called collective cell migrations are essential for complex multicellular life, but are generally understudied. Much of what we know about these cell migrations comes from research studies that look at single cell migration events, using cultured cells outside of a living organism. From such studies we know that one particular class of signaling molecules, prostaglandins, regulate single cell migration. This thesis uses the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to explore the role of prostaglandins in collective cell migration in the tissue of the fruit fly ovary. We have not only developed a new method of assessing border cell migration, but also we see roles for prostaglandins in both the migratory cells and in the substrate cells that the migratory cells move between. This is important not just because it increases our understanding of development, but in current cancer research studies we have seen increased levels of prostaglandins in and around tumor cells are markers for a highly aggressive and metastatic cancers. Therefore, the work presented in this thesis outlines the importance of prostaglandins in both development and disease, and provides a basis for more in-depth analysis of the mechanisms behind collective cell migration.