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Apoptosis and cell stress in C. elegans

C. elegans is an excellent model organism for studying basic biological processes such as apoptosis and aging. We have been using C. elegans as an experimental model to study how environmental factors and stresses affect apoptosis in animals. In particular, we investigate how non‐genotoxic stresses or factors such as hypoxia, starvation, and non‐genotoxic chemicals may affect programmed cell death in C. elegans. We have developed a method that allows delivery and screening of hydrophobic chemicals in C. elegans and applied this method to investigate how non‐genotoxic carcinogens may promote tumorigenesis. We found that naphthalene, a non‐genotoxic carcinogen in rodents and a potential human carcinogen, inhibits apoptosis in C. elegans, suggesting a cellular mechanism by which naphthalene may allow latent tumor cells to survive and proliferate. Naphthalene is thus the first small molecule apoptosis inhibitor identified in C. elegans. We are in the process of examining if other potential non‐genotoxic carcinogens affect apoptosis in C. elegans and if hopoxia and starvation affect apoptosis in C. elegans. The power of C. elegans genetics in combination with the possibility to carry out large‐scale chemical screens makes C. elegans an attractive and economic animal model for drug screens to identify potential therapeutic agents to treat human diseases.