Video 1 min read

These cancer cells literally crush their neighbors

Published the Updated By Sacha Tembe and Jeanne Fenouil

What if cancer also spreads through force? At the Institut Pasteur, Romain Levayer’s team has uncovered a veritable mechanical war between cells, in which tumor cells—which are harder and more contracted—eventually crush the healthy cells surrounding them.
  • #Cancer
Cellules en guerre

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© Script: Jeanne Fenouil and Sacha Tembe - Filmmaking: Jeanne Fenouil (video in french, english subtitles available translated by AI)

 

Did you know that some cancer cells crush their neighbors?

It's a real battle of forces going on inside our tissues!

Tumor cells become harder and more contracted, to the point of making the healthy cells around them disappear.

At the Institut Pasteur, Romain Levayer's team is studying this “mechanics of tumors”: understanding how the surface tension of cells influences their behavior and their power of domination.

In this study, led by Léo Valon and Alexis Matamoro-Vidal, the researchers use fruit flies (Drosophila) to observe this war between cells in real time, then combine these images with mathematical models to reveal the physical laws behind tumor development.

By deciphering the mechanics of living organisms, they open up new avenues for understanding how cancers form and spread.