Prospective Isolation According to Melanin Pigment Content of Melanoma Cells With Heterogeneous Potentials for Disease Propagation.

ABSTRACT: Intra-tumoral heterogeneity poses a major challenge to treating and managing cancer patients. A characteristic feature of melanoma is its composition of cancer cells with typically heterogeneous content of melanin pigment, the production of which is a hallmark of normal melanocytic differentiation but of poorly understood consequence in melanoma cells, as prospective assessment of pigment heterogeneity in melanoma cells has been experimentally challenging. Here, we describe a novel flow cytometric method for high purity separation of viable melanoma cells based on their melanin content, exploiting the light scattering properties of melanin. By fluorescence-activated cell sorting, we show that cells with low-pigment content (LPCs) in melanoma cell lines and patient tumors are usually far mo

SUBMITTER: Fedele C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12209049 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature