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Role in melanoma metastasis

Heavily pigmented melanoma cells have a Young's modulus of about 4.93 kPa, compared to non-pigmented cells, with a value of 0.98 kPa. The elasticity of melanoma cells is crucial to metastasis and growth; non-pigmented tumors were larger than pigmented tumors, and spread far more easily. Pigmented and non-pigmented cells are both present in melanoma tumors, so that they can both be drug-resistant and metastatic.