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The last decade, many studies have been focusing on the mechanical phenotype of biological cells as a new physical biomarker. Indeed, the mechanical properties of cells are influenced by the onset and progression of diseases. For instance, Malaria and Sickle Cell Anemia are associated with a reduction of Red Blood Cells (RBCs) deformability. Hence, a precise determination of the cellular mechanical response can be essential to bring new insight for better diagnostics. For this purpose, we aim at exploring a new biophotonic approach applied to the characterization of cell deformability. The originality of our approach relies on the all-optical reading of cell deformability using the resonant mode of photonic crystal (PhC) micro-cavities. The presence of an object on top of a PhC micro-cavity induces a local change of refractive index associated with a spectral shift of the resonance spectrum. We propose to investigate the extension of this concept to the measurement of cell deformability in order to get a mechanical signature of the cell.In this work, we demonstrate the proof of principle of our approach by the detection of RBCs deformability using a PhC micro-cavity. Moreover, we have shown for the first time that the variation in reflectivity spectrum of a photonic cavity could allow discriminating between healthy RBCs and artificially rigidified ones.