The control of gene expression in melanocytes and melanomas.
Powerful evidence exists that deregulation of cell type-specific gene expression is a major feature of the genesis of several cancers, with many oncogenic proteins known to possess transcription regulation properties. As a consequence of this deregulation, melanomas may ectopically express HLA-DR and also fall to express enzymes required for melanin synthesis, resulting in amelanotic melanoma. Recent work has demonstrated that these phenomena may be accounted for by the expression of a transcription factor called Brn-2, now known to be involved with the development of neural crest-derived tissues. Brn-2 is normally expressed at high levels in melanoblasts and melanomas but only at low levels in normal melanocytes. Brn-2 may act by competing with another transcription factor, ml, necessary for normal melanocyte development.
Eisen
T G
TG
Royal Marsden NHS Trust, London, UK.
D000818:Animals; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D008544:Melanocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics*