Protein kinases in normal and transformed melanocytes : Melanoma Research (original) (raw)

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Quong, R Y Y*; Blckford, S T*; Ing, Y L1; Terman, B2; Herlyn, M3; Lassam, N J*,4

*Departments of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4N 3M5

1Departments of Clinical Biochemistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4N 3M5

2Lederie Laboratories, Pearl River, New York, USA

3The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, USA

4Division of Medical Oncology, Toronto-Bayview Regional Cancer Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3M5

Abstract

Aberrant function of protein kinases has been implicated In the development of melanoma. In an effort to define the molecular events involved in initiation and progression of this malignancy, we used RT-PCR to Identify protein kinases in both normal and transformed melanocytes. Collectively, we identified seven clones corresponding to previously characterized protein kinases (JAK-1, TYK02, AXUUFO, IGF1-R, KDR and FER) as well as the recently identified MLK-3/PTK1 protein kinase. Northern analysis was used to determine the expression pattern of each protein kinase in both normal melanocytes and a variety of melanoma cell lines. Relatively abundant levels of UFO/AXL and KDR mRNAs were observed in a subset of the melanoma call lines whereas most of the remaining protein kinases were expressed at similar levels in both normal and transformed melanocytes.