Metformin Promotes Anti-Tumor Immunity, 2018 by Zhaowen Luo from RIT Photo on Vimeo.

Zhaowen Luo

Metformin Promotes Anti-Tumor Immunity, 2018

Multimedia animation
Autodesk 3ds Max; Visual Molecular Dynamics computer program; Adobe After Effects

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Illinois, United States

This animation shares how metformin, a drug used for diabetes, could potentially be used for immunotherapy. Tumor cells can evade the immune system by overexpressing the protein PD-L1 (programmed death-ligand 1) to deactivate cytotoxic T cells. Metformin could cause PD-L1 to degrade in the endoplasmic reticulum instead of expressing on the cell surface.