Baicalein is one of the major flavonoids in Scutellaria baicalensis. However, the effects of baicalein on melanogenesis are unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the depigmenting capacity of baicalein and to elucidate its mechanism of action. B16F10 mouse melanoma cells were used to examine the effect of baicalein on melanogenesis by measurement of melanin content and tyrosinase ...

Waardenburg syndrome (WS) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous disease accounting for >2% of the congenitally deaf population. It is characterized by deafness in association with pigmentary anomalies and various defects of neural crest-derived tissues. At least four types are recognized (WS1, WS2, WS3 and WS4) on the basis of clinical and genetic criteria. Two previously described fami...

Metastatic malignant melanoma has a wide spectrum of histopathologic patterns and often lacks melanin pigment. Without a known primary tumor, the diagnosis of metastatic malignant melanoma relies on a combination of morphology and immunohistochemical profile. Infrequently, commonly used markers for melanoma (S100, HMB45, Melan-A and Tyrosinase A) are negative. These cases pose critical diagnost...

Human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hUCB-MSCs) secrete various beneficial molecules, which have anti-apoptotic activity and cell proliferation. However, the effect of hUCB-MSCs in melanogenesis is largely unclear. In this study, we show that conditioned media (CM) derived from hUCB-MSCs inhibit melanogenesis by regulating microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MI...

We determined the sensitivity and specificity of 3 novel antibodies (microphthalmia transcription factor [Mitf], Melan-A, and tyrosinase) as markers for melanoma in cytologic preparations and compared the results with those of commonly used markers (S-100 protein [S-100] and HMB-45). We stained 72 cell blocks from 40 patients with melanoma and 32 with nonmelanocytic malignant neoplasms with ant...

PURPOSE Tyrosinase is the rate-limiting enzyme responsible for melanin biosynthesis in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) of the eye. Melanin has an important role in retinal development, function, and protection against light-induced oxidative stress, and melanin levels are associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Because the levels of and protection afforded by melanin seem t...

Oncolytic virotherapy represents a new approach in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. The efficacy this therapeutic is limited by release type I IFNs tumor microenvironment that can induce an antiviral state cells. Here we investigated ability to impair oncolytic virolysis panel human melanoma cell lines. We found cells with dedifferentiated phenotype showed increased IFN mediated resistance...

Transcription profiling of melanoma cell lines previously identified two transcription signatures predicted to respectively correspond with proliferation and invasion. Here we identify Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (Mitf) as a useful marker for signature membership and demonstrate that knockdown of Mitf alters signature phenotype. Proliferative and invasive signature cell lines...