Authentication of cell lines in biomedical research has been elevated to a very high priority. In a review of the literature, Lacroix examined the issue of cross-contamination of cell lines including the well-known contamination of cell lines with HeLa cells, and the misidentification of the ECV304 cell line as “immortalized endothelial cells” when these cells in fact originated from T24 bladde...

BACKGROUND Melanoma is a deadly disease affecting people worldwide. Genetic studies have identified different melanoma subtypes characterized by specific recurrently mutated genes and led to the successful clinical introduction of targeted therapies. Hotspot mutations in SF3B1 were recently reported in uveal melanoma. Our aim was to see if these mutations also occur in cutaneous melanoma. FIN...

PURPOSE In patients with uveal melanoma, tumor cell dissemination and subsequent formation of metastases are confined mainly to the hematogenous route. Here, we sought to isolate circulating melanoma cells in peripheral blood of patients with primary uveal melanoma and clinically localized disease. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Blood samples from 52 patients with clinically localized uveal melanoma and...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Features and characteristics of uveal melanoma are well described in adults, but little is known about the presentation of uveal melanoma in infancy. DESIGN Systematic literature review. METHODS A review of published, peer-reviewed literature reporting on uveal melanoma presenting during the first two years of life. Outcome measures included demographics, clinical ...

PURPOSE Recently, a segregation study in families with uveal and cutaneous melanoma identified 9q21 as a potential locus harboring a tumor-suppressor gene (TSG). One of the genes in this area, RASEF, was then analyzed as a candidate TSG, but lack of point mutations and copy number changes could not confirm this. In this study, the RASEF gene was investigated for potential mutations and gene sil...

PURPOSE The RAS association domain family 1 (RASSF1) gene is a tumor-suppressor gene located on chromosome 3p21.3. The alternative transcript (RASSF1a) has been shown to be inactivated by hypermethylation in several human malignancies, including breast, prostate, and lung cancer, and in cutaneous melanoma. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the methylation status of RASSF1a in human uvea...

We conducted a case-control interview study among 1277 subjects (407 patients, 870 controls selected by using random digit dial) in 11 western United States to determine whether uveal melanoma and cutaneous melanoma shared common risk factors. After adjustment for other factors, the risk of uveal melanoma was increased for those with green, gray, or hazel eyes [relative risk (RR) = 2.5, P less ...

AIM To investigate the association between posterior uveal melanoma and iris freckles, iris naevi, and choroidal naevi. METHODS Cross sectional study of 65 patients with posterior uveal melanoma and 218 controls. Iris colour, iris freckles, iris naevi, and choroidal naevi were recorded for each eye of each patient. RESULTS Iris freckles were present in 40 (61.5%) patients with melanoma and ...

Uveal melanoma is the most common primary ocular malignancy in whites and represents 70% of all primaryocularmalignancies. Inpatients with metastatic uveal melanoma, the prognosis for those with initial metastasistotheliverisparticularlypoor. The median survival of patients who first develop liver metastasis from uveal melanoma is 5 to 7 months, as compared with 18 months for other initial site...