Cancer Research UK scientists have discovered that a protein called Rac1 prompts pigment cells to sprout long ‘legs’ that could propel skin cancer cells, allowing them to spread, according to research published in Developmental Cell today.The team from Cancer Research UK’s Beatson Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Glasgow showed that when Rac1 is switched on in mice it signals healthy pigment cells, called melanoblasts, to grow legs and ‘travel’ during their early development. When Rac1 was ‘switched off’ the cells were only able to sprout short buds and had difficulty moving.
