Melanin presence inhibits melanoma cell spread in mice in a unique mechanical fashion

Abstract Melanoma is a highly aggressive cancer that exhibits metastasis to various critical organs. Unlike any other cancer cells, melanoma cells can synthesize melanin in large amounts, becoming heavily pigmented. Until now the role of melanin in melanoma, particularly the effect of melanin presen...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Michal Sarna, Martyna Krzykawska-Serda, Monika Jakubowska, Andrzej Zadlo, Krystyna Urbanska
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2019
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/542ffe84436442928fd0976caeef0904
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract Melanoma is a highly aggressive cancer that exhibits metastasis to various critical organs. Unlike any other cancer cells, melanoma cells can synthesize melanin in large amounts, becoming heavily pigmented. Until now the role of melanin in melanoma, particularly the effect of melanin presence on the abilities of melanoma cells to spread and metastasize remains unknown. Recently, we have shown that melanin dramatically modified elastic properties of melanoma cells and inhibited the cells invasive abilities in vitro. Here, we inoculated human melanoma cells with different melanin content into nude mice and tested the hypothesis that cell elasticity is an important property of cancer cells for their efficient spread in vivo. The obtained results clearly showed that cells containing melanin were less capable to spread in mice than cells without the pigment. Our findings indicate that the presence of melanin inhibits melanoma metastasis, emphasizing possible clinical implications of such an inhibitory effect.