After more than six years
of research, the research team led by María Soengas, head
of CNIO's Melanoma Group, showed that RAB7 acts as an orchestra director, determining the fate
of melanoma cells: at high
concentrations of RAB7, cellular autodigestion is very
active, and this allows tumor cells to obtain energy, prevent the accumulation
of toxic
components and thus divide and proliferate; when RAB7 is reduced, cells use endosomes to recycle metastatic proteins, favouring their dispersal throughout the body.