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

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中的一个 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目及 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得了主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。所列机构为 研究中心，而研究中心不一定是研究者所在的机构。 一种称为MITF（小眼症相关转录因子）的黑色素细胞主调节基因被发现在进行性黑色素瘤中扩增。 MITF扩增在转移性疾病中更普遍，并与患者总体生存率降低相关。 由于MITF扩增的黑色素瘤细胞对化疗具有高度抗性，因此将采用一种利用免疫疗法的不同方法来评估替代策略是否可用于治疗或作为进行性黑色素瘤的标志物。志愿者和患者的角色将是献血，将使用来自MITF基因的肽进行调查，这些肽已使用生物信息学方法确定。这些肽将用于流式细胞术研究，以确定是否存在这种基因产物的免疫识别，以及这种识别是否存在于健康志愿者和患有不同疾病阶段的黑色素瘤患者中。

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.