Posted by For my steam project, I wanted to discuss the relationship between the immune system and cancer. It can get complicated. T cells are lymphocytes that kill foreign entities like cancer. However, cancer cells have the potential to “trick” these lymphocytes into thinking that they are healthy cells. This is what I have tried to convey in this story. The animals represent T cells and B cells. These animals are running a “house party” with a tight reservation list. One entity, a cancer cell is not on this list, so the B cell communicates to the T cells that it is not invited, and the T cells swarm and attack it. One cancer cell learns to trick the cell into thinking that it is healthy and familiar. The animals (T-cells) mark it as familiar and it is let into the party.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ek4SlkUgukM_DCEn5npn4w4FUhEi8L4cUfgHHWnnshc/edit?usp=sharing
I can tell a lot of thought and time was put into this project. The project covers the learning objective, describe the various WBC and their function, through a model of a house party. Chloe shows how T cells and B cells screen cells for cancer by showing the process in the form of animals hosting a house party. The animals, representing T cells and B cells, are at the door inviting guests that are healthy cells in and a cancer cell tries to get in but the B cell animal tells the T cell animal that the cancer cell is not on the guest list and the cancer cell is refused. The cancer cell then tricks the T cells and B cells animals by covering itself in a healthy cell disguise and gets into the house party. This is an excellent representation of how T cells and B cells communicate to screen healthy cells for cancer and it also represents how cancer cells work around the immune defenses.