CNIO researchers explore new ways of attacking melanoma, an increasingly frequent cancer in which prevention is crucial
Source: Eurek Alert!, May 2024
- By investigating the origin and evolution of melanoma, several groups at the Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), who are international leaders in the field, have come up with promising strategies.
- The Melanoma Group, led by Marisol Soengas, seeks to inhibit proteins that help the tumor evade the body’s natural defenses.
- The Microenvironment and Metastasis Group, led by Héctor Peinado, aims to prevent the formation of the ‘nest’ that allows the tumor to spread to other organs.
In this video, the melanoma cells (in green) on the left have proteins that trick our defense system and get it to work in favor of the cancer, promoting its development instead of attacking it. This is why melanoma cells survive despite being surrounded by defensive cells (in red), the cytotoxic lymphocytes.
In contrast, the melanoma cells on the right do not have their anti-defense proteins active, and so the lymphocytes do attack the tumor cells, which eventually disappear from the image.