Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Nov 12.
Published in final edited form as: Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2010 Jan 22;23(2):225–237. doi: 10.1111/j.1755-148X.2010.00667.x

Figure 1.

Figure 1

PAX3, SOX10, MITF and MET are expressed in melanoma cell lines and in primary tumors. (A) Western blot analysis of melanoma cell lines. Human melanoma cell lines (lanes 1–6) and the mouse melanoma cell line B16 (lane 7) all have expression of PAX3, SOX10, and MET to variable degrees. Vinculin levels are shown as a loading control in both (A) and (B). (B) Control western analysis for antibody specificity. HEK-293T cells lack expression of both PAX3 and SOX10 (lane 1) and were transfected with constructs expressing either PAX3 (lane 2) or SOX10 (lane 3). (C–I) Immunofluorescence for PAX3, SOX10, and MET in primary tumor samples. These examples are representative samples for melanoma tissues with expression for PAX3 (C), SOX10 (D, E), MET (F,G) or phosphorylated MET (pMET) (H,I). The dotted line demarcates the dermo-epidermal junction layer, which separates the upper keratinocyte layer in the epidermis and the lower connective tissue of the dermis. Normal melanocytes are located on this layer, and when found next to melanocytic lesions (white arrow heads), have either low/absent SOX10 expression (D) or high levels (E). MET expression was expressed in the cell membrane/cytosol (white arrows) or in the nucleus (yellow arrows). (J) Summary of the number of melanocytic lesions that expressed PAX3, SOX10, MET, or pMET. Tissue specimens are superficial spreading melanomas (n=40) or dysplastic but non-cancerous pigmented lesions (nevi) (n=30). (K) A graphical summary of the correlation of PAX3 and/or SOX10 expression with the presence or absence of MET and pMET. The compared groups (*, **, and ***) showed a significant difference from the expected mean (p<0.05). (L, M) Immunofluorescent staining for MITF expression in primary tumor samples. Two representative samples are shown. (N) Western blot analysis for MITF expression in melanoma cell lines. Human melanoma cell lines (lanes 1–6) and murine cell line B16 (lane 7) express variable levels of MITF. (O) Control western analysis for antibody specificity. HEK-293T cells lack expression of MITF (lane 1) and were transfected with an expression contruct for MITF (lane 2).