Dysregulation of MITF Leads to Transformation in MC1R-Defective Melanocytes.

ABSTRACT: The MC1R/cAMP/MITF pathway is a key determinant for growth, differentiation, and survival of melanocytes and melanoma. MITF-M is the melanocyte-specific isoform of Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor (MITF) in human melanoma. Here we use two melanocyte cell lines to show that forced expression of hemagglutinin (HA) -tagged MITF-M through lentiviral transduction represents an oncogenic insult leading to consistent cell transformation of the immortalized melanocyte cell line Hermes 4C, being a melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) compound heterozygote, while not causing transformation of the MC1R wild type cell line Hermes 3C. The transformed HA-tagged MITF-M transduced Hermes 4C cells form colonies in soft agar and tumors in mice. Further, Hermes 4C cells display increased MITF chromat

SUBMITTER: Lavelle TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7408466 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature