Stag Parp1

Mutations in the STAG2 gene are associated with a variety of cancers, and their appearance on cancer gene activity databases suggest a role for them in brain tumours. A fruit fly model reveals that loss of normal STAG2 (SA1 in fruit flies) leads to brain tumour-like accumulation of undifferentiated cells (fly nervous system pictured). And in combination with looking in patients' brain tumour cells, a promising exploitable link was revealed between STAG2 with the PARP1 enzyme, inhibitors of which are used to treat different cancers

Read the published research article here

Written by Lindsey Goff

Lindsey Goff

Editor-in-Chief

Formerly immunologist for Cancer Research UK, Lindsey has since moved into the field of scientific publishing. She looks after all BPoD editorial matters.

• Image from work by Simona Totaro and colleagues
• Department of Biosciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in and on the cover of Disease Models & Mechanisms, February 2026