Incomplete expression of the tyrosinase gene family (tyrosinase, TRP-1, and TRP-2) in human malignant melanoma cells in vitro

Inhibitory effects and underlying mechanisms of Artemisia capillaris essential oil on melanogenesis in the B16F10 cell line

The present study investigated the anti-melanogenic activity of 10 essential oils using the B16F10 cell model. Initially, a wide range of concentrations of these essential oils were screened in order to determine their toxicity levels. The assigned non-toxic concentrations of the tested essential oils were then used to evaluate their effects on melanogenesis. The effects of the essential oils with potent anti-melanogenic activity on cell proliferation, protection against H₂O₂-induced cell death and the expression of certain melanogenesis-related genes, including MITF, tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein (TRP)-1 and TRP-2 were also evaluated. The results revealed that the essential oils extracted from Citrus unshiu, Juniperus chinensis L., Zanthoxylum piperitum and Artemisia capillaris (A. capillaris) inhibited melanogenesis. However, among these four extracts, only A. capillaris extract enhanced cell proliferation, exhibited anti-H₂O₂ activities and decreased the expression level of TRP-1. It was demonstrated that A. capillaris extract inhibited melanin synthesis via the downregulation of the TRP-1 translational level. These essential oil extracts, particularly that of A. capillaris, may thus be used as natural anti-melanogenic agents for therapeutic purposes and in the cosmetic industry for skin whitening effects with beneficial proliferative properties. However, further studies using in vivo models are required to validate these findings and to examine the effects of these extracts on various molecular pathways.

Silencing of Mcl-1 overcomes resistance of melanoma cells against TRAIL-armed oncolytic adenovirus by enhancement of apoptosis

Abstract

Arming of oncolytic viruses with tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) has been shown as a viable approach to increase the antitumor efficacy in melanoma. However, melanoma cells may be partially or completely resistant to TRAIL or develop TRAIL resistance, thus counteracting the antitumor efficiency of TRAIL-armed oncolytic viruses. Recently, we found that TRAIL resistance in melanoma cells can be overcome by inhibition of antiapoptotic Bcl-2 protein myeloid cell leukemia 1 (Mcl-1). Here, we investigated whether the cytotoxicity of AdV-TRAIL, an oncolytic adenovirus, which expresses TRAIL after induction by doxycycline (Dox), can be improved in melanoma cells by silencing of Mcl-1. Two melanoma cell lines, the TRAIL-resistant MeWo and the TRAIL-sensitive Mel-HO were investigated. Treatment of both cell lines with AdV-TRAIL resulted in a decrease of cell viability, which was caused by an increase of apoptosis and necrosis. The proapoptotic effects were dependent on induction of TRAIL by Dox and were more pronounced in Mel-HO than in MeWo cells. SiRNA-mediated silencing of Mcl-1 resulted in a further significant decrease of cell viability and a further increase of apoptosis and necrosis in AdV-TRAIL-infected MeWo and Mel-HO cells. However, while in absolute terms, the effects were more pronounced in Mel-HO cells, in relative terms, they were stronger in MeWo cells. These results show that silencing of Mcl-1 represents a suitable approach to increase the cytotoxicity of a TRAIL-armed oncolytic adenovirus in melanoma cells.

Key messages

• Cytotoxicity of TRAIL-expressing adenovirus can be enhanced by silencing of Mcl-1.

• The effect occurs in TRAIL-sensitive and TRAIL-resistant melanoma cells.

• Increase of apoptosis is the main mechanism induced by Mcl-1 silencing.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00109-021-02081-3.

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα) contributes to control of melanogenesis in B16 F10 melanoma cells

Recent studies revealed the cooperation between peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) and α-MSH signaling, which results in enhanced melanogenesis in melanocytes and melanoma cells. However, the agonists of PPARα, such as fenofibrate, exert depigmenting effect. Therefore, we aimed to check how the PPARα expression level affects the antimelanogenic activity of fenofibrate and whether PPARα modulates melanogenesis independently of its agonist. To answer these questions, we used three B16 F10-derived cell lines, which varied in the PPARα expression level and were developed by stable transfection with plasmids driving shRNA-based PPARα silencing or overexpression of PPARα-emerald GFP fusion protein. Melanin contents were assessed with electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy along with color component image analysis-a novel approach to pigment content characteristics in melanoma cells. B16 F10 wt and Ctrl shRNA lines showed intermediate pigmentation, whereas the pigmentation of the B16 F10-derived cell lines was inversely correlated with the PPARα expression level. We observed that cells overexpressing PPARα were almost amelanotic and cells with reduced PPARα protein level were heavily melanized. Furthermore, fenofibrate down-regulated the melanogenic apparatus (MITF, tyrosinase, and tyrosinase-related proteins) in the cells with the regular PPARα expression level resulting in their visibly lower total melanin content in all the cell lines. From these observations, we conclude that fenofibrate works as a strong depigmenting agent, which acts independently of PPARα, but in an additive fashion. Our results also indicate that alterations in PGC-1a acetylation and expression level might contribute to the regulation of melanogenesis by PPARα and fenofibrate.

Efficient melanoma cell killing and reduced melanoma growth in mice by a selective replicating adenovirus armed with tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand

High mortality and therapy resistance of melanoma demand the development of new strategies, and overcoming apoptosis deficiency appears as particularly promising. Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) has shown high potential for apoptosis induction in melanoma cells and may be applicable for gene therapy because of its selective impact on tumor cells. We have constructed a conditional replication-competent adenoviral vector with TRAIL controlled by a tetracycline-inducible promoter (AdV-TRAIL). A variant E1A protein and the lack of E1B aimed at the restriction of viral replication to tumor cells. In particular, the replication gene E1A is controlled by a tyrosinase promoter with high selectivity for melanoma cells. AdV-TRAIL mediated strong expression of E1A and doxycycline-dependent induction of TRAIL selectively in melanoma cells, which resulted in tumor cell lysis and induction of apoptosis. In contrast, non-melanoma cells and normal human melanocytes appeared to be protected. Comparison of the AdV-TRAIL approach with a comparable CD95L vector revealed similar efficacy in vitro. In mouse xenotransplantation models, AdV-TRAIL demonstrated its activity by significant melanoma growth reduction. Melanoma cell killing by AdV-TRAIL was further improved in vitro by combinations with chemotherapeutics. We demonstrate that melanoma cells may be efficiently targeted by TRAIL-based gene therapy, and resistance may be overcome by combined chemotherapy.

Heterogeneous SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes promote expression of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor target genes in melanoma

The microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) promotes melanocyte differentiation and cell cycle arrest. Paradoxically, MITF also promotes melanoma survival and proliferation, acting like a lineage survival oncogene. Thus, it is critically important to understand the mechanisms that regulate MITF activity in melanoma cells. SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling enzymes are multiprotein complexes composed of one of two related ATPases, BRG1 or BRM, and 9-12 associated factors (BAFs). We previously determined that BRG1 interacts with MITF to promote melanocyte differentiation. However, it was unclear whether SWI/SNF enzymes regulate the expression of different classes of MITF target genes in melanoma. In this study, we characterized SWI/SNF subunit expression in melanoma cells and observed down-regulation of BRG1 or BRM, but not concomitant loss of both ATPases. Re-introduction of BRG1 in BRG1 deficient SK-MEL5 cells enhanced expression of differentiation specific MITF target genes and resistance to cisplatin. Down-regulation of the single ATPase, BRM, in SK-MEL5 cells inhibited expression of both differentiation specific and pro-proliferative MITF target genes and inhibited tumorigenicity in vitro. Our data suggest that heterogeneous SWI/SNF complexes composed of either the BRG1 or BRM subunit promote expression of distinct and overlapping MITF target genes and that at least one ATPase is required for melanoma tumorigenicity.

Effects on proliferation and melanogenesis by inhibition of mutant BRAF and expression of wild-type INK4A in melanoma cells

Activating BRAF mutations and loss of wild-type INK4A expression both occur at high frequencies in melanomas. Here, we present evidence that BRAF and INK4A have different effects on melanogenesis, a marker of melanocytic differentiation. Human melanoma cell line 624Mel harbors mutations in both BRAF and INK4A. The in vitro and in vivo growth of these cells was inhibited by either reduced expression of mutant BRAF using stable retroviral RNA interference (RNAi) or retrovirus-mediated stable expression of wild-type INK4A cDNA. Consistent with the observed growth inhibition, phosphorylation of S780 and S795 in pRB, both CDK4/6 targets, was suppressed in cells expressing either mutant BRAF RNAi or wild-type INK4A. Interestingly, melanoma cells expressing mutant BRAF RNAi had increased pigmentation, produced more mature melanosomes and melanin and expressed higher levels of tyrosinase and tyrosinase-related protein-1, whereas melanogenesis was not induced by wild-type INK4A. We found that the melanocyte lineage-specific master control protein microphthalmia-associated transcription factor was upregulated by inhibition of mutant BRAF, which may be the cause for the melanogenic effect of BRAF RNAi. The results suggest that, although both BRAF and INK4A lesions promote cell growth and tumor formation, mutant BRAF may also induce dedifferentiation in melanoma cells.

Selective induction of apoptosis in melanoma cells by tyrosinase promoter-controlled CD95 ligand overexpression

Induction of apoptosis has been demonstrated previously by overexpression of CD95 ligand (CD95L) in cultured human melanoma cells. For in vivo approaches based on CD95L, however, targeted expression is a prerequisite and tyrosinase promoters have been considered for selection. Luciferase reporter gene assays performed for a representative panel of melanoma cell lines characterized by strong (SK-Mel-19), moderate (SK-Mel-13, MeWo), weak (A-375), and missing expression (M-5) of endogenous tyrosinase revealed high tyrosinase promoter activities in SK-Mel-19, SK-Mel-13, and MeWo, but only weak activities in A-375 and M-5 as well as in non-melanoma cell lines. After transfection of a CMV promoter CD95L expression construct, melanoma cells were found highly sensitive, as compared with non-melanoma cells. By applying a tyrosinase promoter CD95L construct, apoptosis was selectively induced in SK-Mel-19, SK-Mel-13, MeWo as well as in A-375, which was characterized by high CD95 surface expression and high sensitivity to agonistic CD95 activation. M5 and non-melanoma cell lines remained uninfluenced. Also, resistance to agonistic CD95 activation seen in MeWo characterized by weak CD95 surface expression was overcome by overexpression of CD95L. Our investigations provide evidence that tyrosinase promoter CD95L constructs may be of value for selective induction of apoptosis in therapeutic strategies for melanoma.

Conditional expression of exogenous Bcl-X(S) triggers apoptosis in human melanoma cells in vitro and delays growth of melanoma xenografts

The Bcl-2-related proteins Bcl-X(L) and Bcl-X(S) represent alternative splice products and exert opposite activities in the control of apoptosis, but their significance for melanoma is not yet clear. Applying the tetracycline-inducible expression system Tet-On, we found overexpression of Bcl-X(S) by itself sufficient to induce apoptosis in vitro in stably transfected human melanoma cell lines. Combination with proapoptotic agents such as etoposide, pamidronate, and ceramide resulted in additive proapoptotic effects, whereas Bcl-X(L) protected from apoptosis caused via CD95/Fas stimulation. In nude mice growth of melanoma xenotransplants derived from stably transfected cells was significantly reduced after induction of Bcl-X(S) by doxycycline. Our results indicate that Bcl-X proteins are of major importance for control of apoptosis in malignant melanoma.

The detection of tyrosinase mRNA in peripheral blood samples is unlikely to aid in the management of patients with localised malignant melanoma

A number of authors have reported the detection of tyrosinase mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients with malignant melanoma using the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The precise value of this assay as a prognostic tool, however, remains in doubt. This is particularly so with relation to localised disease, where relatively little data has been accumulated. In this study we analysed the peripheral blood of 50 consecutive patients with primary malignant melanoma referred to a plastic surgical centre with the facility of a pigmented lesion clinic. Samples were analysed from an additional 35 patients with advanced melanoma disease and 35 patients with benign pigmented cutaneous lesions. We were able to identify tyrosinase transcripts in the peripheral blood of only two of 50 patients with localised disease. Of those with more advanced disease, a positive finding was found in three with regional disease and four patients with metastatic spread. Stage of disease was found to correlate significantly with PCR status. No correlation was identified with other prognostic markers or with outcome over a three-year period. This data would support the conclusion that the detection of tyrosinase mRNA in peripheral blood is likely to be of little value as an aid in the management of patients with early malignant melanoma.

Tyrosine hydroxylase isoenzyme I is present in human melanosomes: a possible novel function in pigmentation

Both human epidermal melanocytes and keratinocytes have the full capacity for de novo synthesis of 6(R) L-erythro 5,6,7,8, tetrahydrobiopterin, the essential cofactor for the rate limiting step in catecholamine synthesis, via tyrosine hydroxylase. Catecholamine synthesis has been demonstrated in proliferating keratinocytes of the epidermis in human skin. This study presented herein identified for the first time the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase isozyme I mRNA within the melanocyte. The location of the enzyme was demonstrated in both the cytosol and melanosomes of human epidermal melanocytes, using immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence double staining as well as immunogold electron microscopy. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of pure melanosomal extracts from the human melanoma cell line, FM94, confirmed the production of L-dopa within these organelles. In addition, enzyme activities for both tyrosine hydroxylase and tyrosinase were measured in the same preparations, by following the catalytic release of tritiated water from L-[3,5-3H]tyrosine. The melanosomal membrane location of tyrosine hydroxylase together with tyrosinase implies a coupled interaction, where L-dopa production facilitates the activation of tyrosinase. Our results support a direct function for tyrosine hydroxylase in the melanosome via a concerted action with tyrosinase to promote pigmentation.

Detection of melanoma seeding during surgical procedures--an RT-PCR based model

AIM

It has long been suggested that malignant cells may be shed into the blood stream during any given surgical procedure for cancer. A number of studies have now reported the detection of occult melanoma cells in peripheral blood using a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) based assay. The principal aim of these studies has been to determine a prognostic value for the test and not to evaluate the influence of intervention upon results.

METHODS

In this pilot study we aimed to determine whether the assay could be used as a model to detect cells that are seeded during surgery. Peripheral blood samples were obtained pre- and post-operatively on twenty patients undergoing surgery for malignant melanoma - ten with primary disease and ten undergoing regional lymphadenectomy. A further ten patients undergoing surgery for non-melanoma conditions provided controls.

RESULTS

Using RT-PCR, it was possible to identify tyrosinase transcripts in the peripheral blood of one of ten patients undergoing excision of local disease and four of ten undergoing surgery for regional metastatic disease.

CONCLUSION

It was concluded that this technique does enable detection of a greater percentage of RT-PCR findings post-operatively. This in turn may provide a means for optimizing or comparing surgical techniques and provides a potential guide in the use of adjuvant therapies.

Endothelin-1 decreases basic apoptotic rates in human melanoma cell lines

Normal human melanocytes respond to endothelin-1 with induced proliferation and differentiation. Whereas in cultured melanoma cells the predominant endothelin receptor, ET(B)-R, is consistently downregulated, ET(B)-R upregulation was recently reported for melanoma tumors. Contrary to the pro-survival activity described for endothelin in vascular cells, a proapoptotic activity of endothelin-1 has been reported for melanoma cells, in previous studies. We therefore investigated the role of endothelin for melanoma cells with respect to apoptosis and proliferation. Treatment with 10 nM endothelin-1 was a strong mitogenic signal for normal human melanocytes, which responded with a 4-6-fold increase of thymidine incorporation, whereas the response was only 1.2-fold for SK-Mel-19, the melanoma cell line characterized by the highest ET(B)-R expression, and it was even less in other cell lines. Determination of the apoptotic rates revealed that endothelin-1 significantly reduced basic apoptotic rates to 75% both in SK-Mel-19 and in normal melanocytes. After cell synchronization, an antiapoptotic effect of endothelin-1 was seen in five of seven cell lines investigated. In the cell line Bro, which showed no response and which lacks ET(B)-R expression, responsibility could be restored by overexpression of ET(B)-R after stable transfection, indicating that the effectors of the endothelin-1 signal cascade were active in these cells, and that the antiapoptotic effect of endothelin-1 is mediated in a receptor-specific way. This antiapoptotic activity of endothelin for melanoma cells combined with upregulation of endothelin receptors in the tumor may be a crucial step for melanoma progression.

Magnetic bead RT-PCR: establishment of a new method for detecting circulating melanoma cells

This study was performed to detect circulating melanoma cells in peripheral blood using a novel method based on magnetic-activated cell separation (MACS) followed by a nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for tyrosinase and MART-1 mRNA. Samples to be tested were enriched for tumour cells either by isolating melanoma cells using two anti-melanoma antibodies (MART-1 and HMB-45) or by CD45 depletion of the non-melanoma cell fraction. The tumour cell-enriched fractions were subjected to mRNA isolation using oligo-deoxythymidylate (oligo-dT) magnetic beads followed by a nested RT-PCR. Sensitivity was assessed by spiking experiments and compared with a commonly used total RNA isolation system previously established in our department. Positive isolation of melanoma cells showed insufficient sensitivity, whereas negative isolation by depletion of leukocytes showed a detection limit of at least one melanoma cell per millilitre of whole blood. In further experiments, the depletion assay was applied to 25 peripheral blood samples of melanoma patients. The preliminary data obtained from the new method indicate a comparable detection rate to the established total RNA extraction method. However, not all the results were concordant. Therefore, future experiments need to be performed with a statistically greater number of patients.

Decreased proliferation of human melanoma cell lines caused by antisense RNA against translation factor eIF-4A1

Control of translation initiation was recognised as a critical checkpoint for cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. In human melanoma cells, we have previously reported consistent overexpression of translation initiation factor eIF-4A1. Here, we investigated by transfection of antisense constructs its significance for the control of melanoma cell growth. The tetracycline-inducible expression system was established in melanoma cells, and three fragments of the 5'-, central-, and 3'-portion of the eIF-4A1 cDNA were subcloned in antisense and in sense orientation after a tetracycline inducible promoter. Significant proliferation decrease was obtained after transient transfection and induction of antisense RNA directed against the 5'- and the central portion (up to 10%), whereas, no effects were seen after induction of the 3'-fragment and the sense controls. Cell clones stably transfected with the central antisense fragment revealed after doxycycline induction reduced expression of endogeneous eIF-4A1 mRNA correlated with decreased proliferation rates (up to 6%). These data demonstrate the applicability of antisense strategies against translation factors in melanoma cells. Translation initiation factor eIF-4A1 contributes to the control of melanoma cell proliferation and may be taken into consideration when scheduling new therapeutic approaches targeting the translational control.

Quantitative relationships between pigment-related mRNA and biochemical melanoma markers in melanoma cell lines

The use of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis of melanoma-specific transcripts for the identification of circulating melanoma cells has shown very variable results in different studies on melanoma patients. We have therefore developed quantitative methods to study both analytical and biological variations as possible causes of this phenomenon. Pigment-related and S-100 beta transcripts were quantified in 12 different melanoma cell lines and related to the amounts of 5-S-cysteinyldopa, pigment and S-100B protein. A real-time PCR method was used and the results were expressed as absolute number of transcripts per cell. Tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein (TRP)-1, TRP-2 and MART-1/Melan-A mRNA varied from undetectable (< 10(-4) transcripts/cell) to 10(3) transcripts/cell, i.e. by a factor > 10(7) in the different cell lines. S-100 beta mRNA varied from 2.8 to 165 transcripts/cell, i.e. by a factor of 60. Tyrosinase, TRP-1 and TRP-2 mRNA correlated significantly with the amount of 5-S-cysteinyldopa, an intermediate pigment metabolite (P < 0.001, P < 0.001 and P < 0.01, respectively). The amount of S-100 beta mRNA correlated significantly with the amount of S-100B protein (P < 0.001). No cross-correlations were seen between the pigment-related and S-100-related analytes. We conclude that one reason behind the negative results of RT-PCR measurement of pigment-related mRNA may be that these transcripts are not always expressed in the particular cells present in the patient's blood. Furthermore, variation in the expression of the order of 10(7) must have great impact on the diagnostic sensitivity. Measurement of S-100 beta mRNA would be more sensitive, but the use of this transcript is hampered by its presence in the blood cells.

The 5-aminolevulinic acid-induced porphyrin biosynthesis in benign and malignant cells of the skin

In fluorescence diagnosis and photodynamic therapy of neoplastic tissues 5-aminolevulinic acid is used to synthesize endogenous porphyrins as photosensitizers. The efficacy of neoplastic tissues to fluorescence diagnosis and photodynamic therapy is thought to be dependent on the total level of intralesional formed porphyrins. The available profiles of porphyrin metabolites in normal and in neoplastic cell lines after administration of 5-aminolevulinic acid vary considerably. Thus, this is the first in-vitro study which compares the porphyrin biosynthesis in normal skin cells (HaCaT, fibroblasts) with melanoma cells (Bro, SKMel-23, SKMel-28). After incubation with 1 mM 5-aminolevulinic acid, kinetics of porphyrin levels and metabolites were determined in the cells and the corresponding supernatants. Exogenous 5-aminolevulinic acid induced porphyrin formation in all cells with maximum values after an incubation period of 16-36 h. Increase of porphyrin levels varied from 10- to 80-fold (SKMel-28>HaCaT>fibroblasts>SKMel-23>>Bro) with minimum 1.5 times higher levels of porphyrins in the supernatants than in the cells. In cells and supernatants protoporphyrin and coproporphyrin were the predominantly formed porphyrin metabolites. Metastatic melanoma cells (SKMel-23, SKMel-28) accumulated much higher porphyrin levels than primary melanoma cells (Bro). In conclusion, by optimizing the treatment modalities, especially the light source, topical photodynamic therapy (PDT) could become a treatment alternative of melanoma metastases in progressive disease.

Transcriptional repression of the microphthalmia gene in melanoma cells correlates with the unresponsiveness of target genes to ectopic microphthalmia-associated transcription factor

In the melanocyte, expression of genes required for pigment formation is mediated by the microphthalmia transcription factor, which is also critical for the development and survival of normal melanocytes during embryogenesis. Here we show that the expression of the melanocyte-specific isoform of microphthalmia transcription factor is lost in a subset of human melanoma cell lines, accompanied by the repression of tyrosinase and tyrosinase-related proteins 1 and 2, the three transcriptional target genes for microphthalmia. After the forced expression of microphthalmia transcription factor in melanoma cells where the expression of endogenous microphthalmia gene was found to be extinguished, no restoration of the melanogenic phenotype occurred and the transcription of the three microphthalmia transcription factor target genes remained silent. The transcription activation domain of microphthalmia transcription factor, tested as a GAL-MITF fusion protein, remained fully functional in these cells, however, and ectopic microphthalmia transcription factor localized normally to the nucleus and bound to the tyrosinase initiator E-box in gel retardation assays. Thus, the block of differentiation in microphthalmia-transcription-factor-negative melanomas extended the transcriptional repression of the microphthalmia transcription factor gene alone, and endogenous promoters in these melanoma cells became no longer responsive to microphthalmia transcription factor when this was substituted exogenously. The data presented suggest that a specific nuclear context is required for the transcriptional activation of the melanocyte markers by the microphthalmia transcription factor in malignant melanocytes and this specificity is lost concomitantly with the transcriptional repression of microphthalmia transcription factor.

The 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA) oxidase activity of human tyrosinase

Melanin synthesis in mammals is catalysed by at least three enzymic proteins, tyrosinase (monophenol dihydroxyphenylalanine:oxygen oxidoreductase, EC 1.14.18.1) and tyrosinase-related proteins (tyrps) 1 and 2, whose genes map to the albino, brown and slaty loci in mice, respectively. Tyrosinase catalyses the rate-limiting generation of L-dopaquinone from L-tyrosine and is also able to oxidize L-dopa to L-dopaquinone. Conversely, mouse tyrp1, but not tyrosinase, catalyses the oxidation of the indolic intermediate 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid (DHICA) into the corresponding 5,6-indolequinone-2-carboxylic acid, thus promoting the incorporation of DHICA units into eumelanin. The catalytic activities of the human melanogenic enzymes are still debated. TYRP1 has been reported to lack DHICA oxidase activity, whereas tyrosinase appears to accelerate DHICA consumption, thus raising the question of DHICA metabolism in human melanocytes. Here we have used two different approaches, comparison of the catalytic activities of human melanocytic cell lines expressing the full set of melanogenic enzymes or deficient in TYRP1, and transient expression of TYR and tyr genes in COS7 cells, to demonstrate that human tyrosinase actually functions as a DHICA oxidase, as opposed to the mouse enzyme. Therefore, human tyrosinase displays a broader substrate specificity than its mouse counterpart, and might be at least partially responsible for the incorporation of DHICA units into human eumelanins.

Serological markers for melanoma

We present a review of current literature concerning the significance of serological markers in melanoma patients. Results for cytokines, cytokine receptors, cell adhesion molecules, S100 protein, melanoma inhibitory activity, tissue-specific reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, neurone-specific enolase, lipid-bound sialic acid and melanin metabolites such as 5-S-cysteinyldopa and 6-hydroxy-5-methoxyindole-2-carboxylic acid are discussed. For most of these substances, serum levels are more pronounced in the more advanced stages of disease. Therefore, these markers seem to have no place in the early detection of melanoma. On the other hand, sensitivity in the advanced stages of disease seems to be < 100%, compromising their use as a new staging procedure. Some markers show promising results as a possible prognostic factor in the early detection of disease progression or in the prediction of therapy outcome. If confirmed by further studies, this could direct future therapeutic strategies and could help to select patients who would benefit most from more aggressive (adjuvant) therapies. In addition, the study of some of these substances could add to the knowledge of tumour biology and immunology.

Molecular and prognostic classification of advanced melanoma: a multi-marker microcontamination assay of peripheral blood stem cells

The presence or absence of melanoma cells in human peripheral blood has recently been shown to be associated with disease prognosis, including overall survival. The detection of tyrosinase mRNA-positive circulating melanoma cells by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has been limited to disseminated tumours expressing measurable amounts of this melanocyte-specific enzyme. To biologically classify both melanotic and amelanotic melanomas and to evaluate the clinical and prognostic relevance of tumour cell microcontamination, we examined autologous peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) harvests from patients with advanced malignant melanoma prior to dose-escalated chemotherapy. To assay heterogeneous melanoma cell antigen expression, we developed a highly sensitive RT-PCR using four melanoma- and one tumour-associated antigen as molecular markers. Expression of the melanocyte-associated transcripts of tyrosinase, MART1/Melan-A, tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1) and tyrosinase-related protein-2 (TRP-2) as well as the tumour-specific transcript of MAGE-3 was analysed by RT-PCR in PBSC harvests from 31 patients. Seven of the 31 PBSC harvests tested positive for one or more molecular markers: two patients for tyrosinase only, and one patient for MAGE-3 only, one patient for tyrosinase and MAGE-3, one for tyrosinase and MART1/Melan-A, and two patients for tyrosinase, MART1/Melan-A, TRP-2 and MAGE-3. mRNA-positive patients exhibited a significantly impaired overall survival (P = 0.0032), with a median survival of 3 months as opposed to 10 months in PBSC mRNA-negative patients. In conclusion, the use of this multiple-marker microcontamination assay allowed for molecular and prognostic classification of advanced malignant melanoma.

Downregulation of endothelin B receptor in human melanoma cell lines parallel to differentiation genes

Normal human melanocytes have been shown to respond to the signal peptide endothelin by increased proliferation and melanin formation. Contradictory findings, however, have been reported about which of the two endothelin receptors (EDNRA or EDNRB) is expressed in normal melanocytes and melanoma cells. Moreover it was not clear whether malignant cells differ from their normal precursors in this respect. Screening a melanocyte cDNA library for genes downregulated in melanomas identified clones specific for EDNRB. Northern blots proved that the corresponding mRNA is generally expressed in cultures of human cutaneous melanocytes and congenital melanocytic nevus cells. In 16 of 17 melanoma cell lines, however, the expression of EDNRB mRNA was strongly downregulated. EDNRA was only weakly expressed and detectable by northern blotting in 12 of 17 cultures of benign melanocytic cells and four of 17 melanoma cell lines. Nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction proved several melanoma cell lines to be completely negative for EDNRA expression. Gene deletion as the cause of missing endothelin receptor expression was ruled out by genomic Southern blots. Receptor binding assays confirmed RNA data revealing 1.6 x 105 endothelin-1 binding sites per cell for a melanocyte culture and between 8.7 x 104 and 400 sites per cell for melanoma cell lines. Expression of pigmentation genes coding for tyrosinase, TRP-1 and TRP-2 correlated positively with that of EDNRB but negatively with EDNRA expression. EDNRB but not EDNRA expression is therefore typical for melanocytic cells, and downregulation of EDNRB seems to be an important characteristic of melanoma cells possibly related to malignancy or apoptosis.

Transient expression of high molecular weight, heat sensitive, trypsin-resistant form of tyrosinase in B-16 melanoma cells

High molecular weight forms of tyrosinase have been found to be expressed during spontaneous remelanization of the amelanotic B-16 melanoma cells in culture as well as in melanotic tumors formed from amelanotic melanoma cells grown in C57BL/6J mice. Overnight extraction of the crude melanosomal fractions from such tumors and cultured melanoma cells reveal the presence of an additional DOPA-MBTH positive band well below the stacking gel. This band has been found to be alpha-PEP7 (antibody specific for tyrosinase) positive and alpha-PEP1 (antibody specific for TRP-1) negative on Western blot analysis. Heat treatment at 60 degrees C for 60 min results in the loss of this band and considerable loss of activity of the melanosomal extract. Trypsin treatment of these melanosomal extracts resulted in a minor change in the mobility of the high molecular weight band. SDS-PAGE under reduced conditions followed by Western blotting revealed that the high molecular weight band was lost and not detected by alpha-PEP7 or alpha-PEP1. These findings indicate that high molecular weight, heat sensitive and trypsin resistant forms of tyrosinase are transiently expressed in B-16 melanoma cells and tumors that are initiating remelanization following phenotypic drift towards the amelanotic state.

Enhanced melanogenesis induced by tyrosinase gene-transfer increases boron-uptake and killing effect of boron neutron capture therapy for amelanotic melanoma

Specific and powerful cancer killing effect for melanoma by boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) using DOPA analogue, 10B-p-boronophenylalanine (10B-BPA), has been established, but amelanotic melanoma is insufficiently responsive to 10B-BPA BNCT in comparison with actively melanin-producing melanoma. Although the accumulation mechanism of 10B-BPA within melanoma was not established, we have recently obtained findings suggesting that melanin monomers, key intermediates for melanin polymer formation, play a critical role in 10B-BPA accumulation. In addition, there are some kinds of human amelanotic melanomas, such as MEL2A, in which expression of tyrosinase is repressed or lacking though tyrosinase-related protein (TRP)-1 and TRP-2 are well expressed. Thus, by using a similarly tyrosinase-lacking mouse amelanotic melanoma cell line, A1059, we constructed TA1059 cells by transfecting human tyrosinase-cDNA into these cells. TA1059 cells acquired higher DOPA-oxidase and DOPAchrome tautomerase activity as well as eumelanin content at even higher levels than those of B16F10 cells. TA1059 cells showed about 2.5 times higher P-boronophenylalanine (BPA) uptake than A1059 cells in culture. In animal experiments, by using these cell lines, tumor growth of TA1059 was significantly suppressed by 10B-BPA BNCT as compared with A1059. These findings indicate that the induction of active melanin biosynthesis by melanogenic gene-transfer effectively improves the treatment of amelanotic melanoma by BNCT.

Translation of a retained intron in tyrosinase-related protein (TRP) 2 mRNA generates a new cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-defined and shared human melanoma antigen not expressed in normal cells of the melanocytic lineage

We report here the identification of a new shared human melanoma antigen recognized by a human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*68011-restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte clone (CTL 128). The cDNA encoding this antigen is composed of a partially spliced form of the melanocyte differentiation antigen tyrosinase-related protein (TRP)-2, containing exons 1-4 with retention of intron 2 and part of intron 4 (TRP-2-INT2). The sequence coding for the antigenic epitope is located at the 5' end of intron 2 and is available for translation in the same open reading frame of the fully spliced TRP-2 mRNA. This peptide is also recognized by CTL 128 when presented by the HLA-A*3301, a member of the HLA-A3-like supertype that includes the HLA-A*68011. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR analysis carried out on total and/or cytoplasmic mRNA demonstrated that, in contrast to the fully spliced TRP-2 mRNA expressed in melanomas, normal skin melanocytes, and retina, the TRP-2-INT2 mRNA could be detected at significant levels in melanomas but not in normal cells of the melanocytic lineage. Instead, in these normal samples, both the spliced and the unspliced transcript of gp100 were expressed at high levels. Absence of endogenous TRP-2-INT2 expression in melanocytes was also confirmed by lack of recognition of HLA-A*68011-transduced, TRP-2(+) melanocyte lines by CTL 128. These results indicate that a partially spliced form of a differentiation antigen mRNA, present in the cytoplasmic compartment of neoplastic but not normal cells of the melanocytic lineage, can be the source of a melanoma-restricted T cell epitope.

Human melanoma cell lines show little relationship between expression of pigmentation genes and pigmentary behaviour in vitro

Several laboratories are pursuing the question of whether the expression of pigment genes can be used as a useful marker for tumour progression. However, many melanoma tumours are amelanotic in vivo. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the expression of tyrosinase-related genes [tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein-1 (TRP-1) and tyrosinase-related protein-2 (TRP-2)] and pigmentation of melanoma cells. Fourteen cutaneous melanoma cell lines were examined for visible pigment, melanin content, and dopa oxidase activity and findings were related to the previously determined expression of the three tyrosinase-related genes in these cells in culture. Four of the cell lines were also stimulated with alpha-MSH, isobutylmethylxanthine, and forskolin to examine the relationship between induced pigmentation and upregulation of pigmentation genes. There was no simple correlation between pigmentation gene expression and dopa oxidase activity or total melanin content of the 14 melanoma cell lines in culture. In the majority of cells, there was no appreciable pigment, whereas, in contrast, half of the cells showed significant dopa oxidase activity. Upregulation of dopa oxidase activity was achieved by alpha-MSH in two out of four cell lines examined in detail and with IBMX in three out of four of these cell lines. IBMX increased tyrosinase gene expression in all four cell lines; alpha-MSH was without effect; and TRP-1 and TRP-2 expression were largely unaffected by IBMX or alpha-MSH. Modest changes in morphology were noted in response to IBMX. Overall, however, human melanoma cell lines were, with two exceptions, amelanotic in culture despite the fact that 10 out of the 14 lines expressed tyrosinase-related genes. We conclude that measurable pigmentation is not a necessary consequence of the expression of pigmentation genes. An implication of this work is that amelanotic tumours in vivo may nevertheless be positive for tyrosinase-related genes.

RT-PCR for tyrosinase-mRNA-positive cells in peripheral blood: evaluation strategy and correlation with known prognostic markers in 123 melanoma patients

Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for the detection of tyrosinase-mRNA-positive cells in peripheral blood of melanoma patients, as a possible marker of hematogenous dissemination, has demonstrated varying detection rates. This study examined the sensitivity and reproducibility of the technique using a protocol of multiple polymerase chain reaction to determine circulating melanocytic cells. For each of the 123 melanoma patients included in this study, four nested polymerase chain reactions were performed from two blood specimens requiring both polymerase chain reactions from at least one blood sample to be positive to consider a patient as positive. Thus, a definitive result was obtained in 98% of the cases, whereas only 1.6% lacked conclusive findings. Thus, we found a correlation between the tyrosinase detection rate and the clinical stage. Circulating tyrosinase-mRNA-positive cells were detected in 13% of patients with primary tumor, 17% with regional skin/lymph node metastasis, and 44% with distant metastasis. Positivity also correlated with known melanoma progression markers such as gender, tumor thickness, and histologic type. Positive results were obtained more frequently in (i) men compared with women, (ii) patients with thick primary melanomas (> 4 mm: 38%) compared with those with thinner tumors (1.1-4 mm, 22%; < or = 1 mm, 5%), and (iii) patients with nonclassifiable (38%), nodular (34%), and occult primary melanomas (30%) compared with those with acrolentiginous (17%), superficial spreading (9%), or lentigo maligna melanoma (0%). These findings suggest that detection of tyrosinase-mRNA-positive cells in peripheral blood is not an adequate marker for identifying melanoma patients with distant metastasis. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain positivity in early melanoma stages, however, as corresponding to other prognostic parameters, may indicate increased risk for the development of hematogenous metastasis and may be of value as a progression marker.

Aberrant retention of tyrosinase in the endoplasmic reticulum mediates accelerated degradation of the enzyme and contributes to the dedifferentiated phenotype of amelanotic melanoma cells

The loss of tyrosinase, the key enzyme in melanin synthesis, has been implicated in the dedifferentiation of malignant melanocytes. The presence of tyrosinase transcripts and antigenic peptides in melanoma tumors prompted us to investigate whether the basis for the loss of the enzyme was proteolytic degradation. Toward this aim, we followed the kinetics of synthesis, degradation, processing, chaperone binding, inhibitor sensitivity, and subcellular localization of tyrosinase in normal and malignant melanocytes. We found that, in amelanotic melanoma cell lines, tyrosinase failed to reach the melanosome, the organelle for melanin synthesis, because it was retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and then degraded. Tyrosinase appeared mostly as a 70-kDa core-glycosylated, endoglycosidase H-sensitive, immature form bound to the ER chaperone calnexin and had a life-span of only 25% of normal. Maturation and transit from the ER to the Golgi compartment was facilitated by lowering the temperature of incubation to 31 degrees C. Several proteasome inhibitors caused the accumulation of an approximately 60-kDa tyrosinase doublet that was more prominent in malignant than in normal melanocytes and promoted, to various degrees, the maturation of tyrosinase in melanoma cells and the translocation of the enzyme to melanosomes. The appearance of ubiquitinated tyrosinase after treatment of normal melanocytes with N-acetyl-L-leucinyl-L-leucinal-L-norleucinal reinforced our notion that some tyrosinase is normally degraded by proteasomes. Proteolysis of tyrosinase by proteasomes is consistent with the production of antigenic tyrosinase peptides that are presented to the immune system by major histocompatibility complex class I molecules.

Translation initiation factor eIF-4A1 mRNA is consistently overexpressed in human melanoma cells in vitro

The oncogenic potential of translation initiation factors (eIF-4E and eIF-2alpha) has been described in previous studies leading to the definition of translational oncogenes. Two previously isolated cDNA clones, expressed differently in human melanoma cells and normal human melanocytes, were identified in this study as coding for the translation initiation factor eIF-4A1. Northern-blot analysis revealed consistent overexpression of eIF-4A1 mRNA in a panel of 14 melanoma cell lines (on an average 5.6 times higher than in cultures of normal human melanocytes). In contrast, the mRNAs of the other group-4 translation initiation factors (eIF-4A2, eIF-4B, eIF-4E and eIF-4gamma) were less and not consistently elevated. Cultures of congenital melanocytic nevi exhibited intermediate expression of eIF-4A1. Thus, eIF-4A1 overexpression seems to be an important feature of melanoma cells and might contribute to their malignant transformation.