How Scientists Describe their Cancer Research through Dance!

Alaluf Emmanuelle, a MD/PhD student from University of Brussels, has posted a video on YouTube describing her latest publication on how to fight cancer's immunosuppressive (defined as partially or completely suppressing the immune response of an individual) capabilities through dance.

Though her research seems quite complicated, her ballet depiction of the work is easy to follow and watch! Take a look at it below!

Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells (shown as MDSC in the video) play a major role in disguising tumor cells from the body's immune system. However, Alaluf's work reveals that if HO-1, an enzyme expressed by meyloid cells, is removed, the body can more readily recognize a tumor and eliminate it. In other words, if they can eradicate the expression of HO-1 enzyme in MDSC cells, they may be able to increase the immune systems antitumor response, and better treat cancer!

This work is not published yet, but right at the end of the video she shows this graph revealing the difference in tumor size when cells are not able to express HO-1 enzymes (green) versus when they are able to express HO-1 enzymes as normal (red). What a big difference!

Immune response is the newest hot topic in cancer research. Join us for the monthly Patient Researcher Seminars at Cornell to find out more!