As part of the solar prevention campaign “We are not sausages”, The Cancer League highlights innovative research by Mira Kahil, doctoral student at the University of Nice. Supported by the League, Mira Kahil is interested in the resistance of melanoma, particularly aggressive skin cancer, in the face of current treatments.
His work relates to the plasticity of cancer cells, that is to say their ability to change their identity to survive and spread, in response to the signals issued by their tumor micro-environment. “Melanoma cells can change their identity when circumstances require it”explains Mira Kahil. “Thus, certain cancer cells adopt a new form to escape therapies, adapt, resist, survive … and finally spread.”
In particular, it highlighted the crucial role of mechanical signals – the forces and tensions exercised on cells within the tumor – in the adaptation of melanoma. The objective of his research is to identify the weaknesses of this cancer in order to develop more effective therapeutic strategies, such as the combination of treatments to prevent the tumor from adapting.
