The Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor Requires SWI/SNF Enzymes to Activate Melanocyte-specific Genes

The microphthalmia-associated transcription factor requires SWI/SNF enzymes to activate melanocyte-specific genes.

The microphthalmia transcription factor (Mitf) activates melanocyte-specific gene expression, is critical for survival and proliferation of melanocytes during development, and has been described as an oncogene in malignant melanoma. SWI/SNF complexes are ATP-dependent chromatin-remodeling enzymes that play a role in many developmental processes. To determine the requirement for SWI/SNF enzymes ...

The Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor (mitf) Requires Swi/snf Enzymes to Activate Melanocyte Specific Genes

Induction of melanocyte-specific microphthalmia-associated transcription factor by Wnt-3a.

Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (Mitf) plays a critical role in the development of neural crest-derived melanocytes. Here, we show that exogenously added Wnt-3a protein, an intercellular signaling molecule, up-regulates the expression of endogenous melanocyte-specific Mitf (Mitf-M) mRNA in cultured melanocytes. The melanocyte-specific promoter of the human MITF gene (MITF-M promo...

The melanocyte-specific isoform of the microphthalmia transcription factor affects the phenotype of human melanoma.

The microphthalmia transcription factor MITF plays a pivotal role in the development and differentiation of melanocytes. The purpose of this work was to investigate the expression and function of the melanocyte-specific isoform MITF-M in human melanoma. We found that MITF-M is repressed in 8 of 14 established melanoma cell lines tested. Transfection of MITF-M into a melanoma cell line (518A2) l...

Mitf-Mdel, a novel melanocyte/melanoma-specific isoform of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor-M, as a candidate biomarker for melanoma

BACKGROUND Melanoma incidence is on the rise and advanced melanoma carries an extremely poor prognosis. Treatment options, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy, are limited and offer low response rates and transient efficacy. Thus, identification of new melanocyte/melanoma antigens that serve as potential novel candidate biomarkers in melanoma is an important area for investigation. METHO...