DETECTION OF CELLULAR/IMMUNE RESPONSES TO MITF IN NORMAL SUBJECTS AND

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. A melanocyte master regulatory gene called MITF (Micro-phthalmia-associated transcription factor) was found to be amplified in progressive melanomas. MITF amplification was more prevalent in metastatic disease and correlated with decreased overall patient survival. Since the melanoma cells with amplified MITF are highly resistant to chemotherapy, a different approach utilizing the power of immunotherapy will be enlisted to evaluate whether an alternative strategy may prove useful in therapy or as a marker for progressive melanoma. The role of the volunteers and patients will be to donate blood, which will be surveyed using peptides derived from the MITF gene that have been determined using bioinformatics approaches. These peptides will be used in flow cytometry studies to determine whether there is immune recognition of this gene product and whether the recognition is present in both healthy volunteers and melanoma patients with different stages of the disease.