Artemisinin and curcumin inhibit Drosophila brain tumor, prolong life span, and restore locomotor activity.

Deletion of tumor suppressor gene, lethal(2)giant larvae [l(2)gl], leads to brain tumor in Drosophila melanogaster at larval stage of development and severe brain dysplasia in mice. We have studied the effect of two potential antitumor drugs artemisinin and curcumin in the perspective of inhibiting l(2)gl brain tumor. Efficacies of these drugs are characterized morphologically by measuring brain sizes of untreated and treated larvae on the basis of tumor inhibition and anatomically by looking at the cellular patterning via antibody staining of the third instar Drosophila larval brains.