Chrystelle Vilfranc (U. Cincinnati): Who Protects the Liver When it Faces Disease?
www.iBiology.org
In this Share Your Research video, Dr. Chrystelle Vilfranc describes her graduate research on BRUCE, a protein that is protective against liver disease.
Chronic liver diseases affect millions of people worldwide. By understanding how liver disease progresses, we may be able to identify new therapies that can protect the liver. Dr. Chrystelle Vilfranc studied the role of BRUCE, a protein that is known to be important in several cellular processes in our bodies, in liver disease. She found that the absence of BRUCE in mouse livers led to accelerated liver disease and higher rates of liver cancer when combined with a liver damaging compound. Furthermore, hepatocellular carcinomas that develop in the absence of BRUCE in the liver appear to have increased β-catenin activity. Loss of BRUCE may be a marker of early liver disease in humans, and rescuing BRUCE expression or activity may help stop or reverse disease in the liver.
0:00-3:57 Introduction
3:58-8:16 What happens when we lose BRUCE in the liver?
8:17-13:00 Acute injury in BRUCE-deficient livers
13:01-19:57 Chronic injury and tumor formation in BRUCE-deficient livers
19:58-23:23 Who else contributes to HCC development in BRUCE-deficient livers?
23:24-25:50 Summary & conclusions
Speaker Biography:
Dr. Chrystelle Vilfranc received her PhD in Cancer and Cell Biology from the University of Cincinnati. After graduating, she was a 2021 AAAS Mass Media Fellow at the Indianapolis Star. She is now a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia Mailman School of Health, investigating cancer-related population sciences.
Credits:
Eric Kornblum (iBiology): Videographer, editor
Brittany Anderton (iBiology): Producer
Chris George (iBiology): Graphics
Maggie Hubbard (iBiology): Graphics