INRA, UMR955 de Génétique fonctionnelle et médicale, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d'Alfort, 7 avenue du Général de Gaulle, Maisons-Alfort, F-94704, France.
BMC Vet Res. 2012 Jun 29;8:95. doi: 10.1186/1746-6148-8-95.
Melanocytic proliferations are common in horses but the diagnosis of malignancy is not always straightforward. To improve diagnosis and prognosis, markers of malignancy are needed. Receptor for activated C kinase 1 (RACK1) protein may be such a marker. RACK1 was originally found to characterize malignant melanocytic lesions in the Melanoblastoma-bearing Libechov minipig (MeLiM) and, later, in human patients. Our purpose was to investigate the value of RACK1 in the classification of cutaneous melanocytic proliferations in horses.
Using immunofluorescence, we report here that both MITF (Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor) and PAX3 (Paired box 3) allow the identification of melanocytic cells in horse skin samples. Importantly, RACK1 was detected in melanocytic lesions but not in healthy skin melanocytes. Finally, we found that RACK1 labeling can be used in horses to distinguish benign melanocytic tumors from melanomas. Indeed, RACK1 labeling appeared more informative to assess malignancy than individual histomorphological features.
This study confirms that horses provide an interesting model for melanoma genesis studies. It establishes MITF and PAX3 as markers of horse melanocytic cells. RACK1 emerges as an important marker of malignancy which may contribute to progress in the diagnosis of melanomas in both human and veterinary medicine.
黑素细胞增殖在马中很常见，但恶性肿瘤的诊断并不总是那么直接。为了改善诊断和预后，需要有恶性肿瘤的标志物。激活 C 激酶 1（RACK1）受体蛋白可能就是这样的标志物。RACK1 最初在携带黑色素细胞瘤的 Libechov 迷你猪（MeLiM）和后来的人类患者的恶性黑素细胞病变中被发现。我们的目的是研究 RACK1 在马皮肤黑素细胞增殖分类中的价值。
本文通过免疫荧光报告称，MITF（小眼畸形相关转录因子）和 PAX3（配对盒 3）均可用于鉴定马皮肤样本中的黑素细胞。重要的是，RACK1 仅在黑素细胞病变中被检测到，而不在健康皮肤黑素细胞中被检测到。最后，我们发现 RACK1 标记可用于区分马的良性黑素细胞瘤和黑色素瘤。事实上，与单个组织形态学特征相比，RACK1 标记在评估恶性肿瘤方面似乎更具信息量。
本研究证实马为黑色素瘤发生研究提供了一个有趣的模型。它确立了 MITF 和 PAX3 作为马黑素细胞的标志物。RACK1 作为一种重要的恶性肿瘤标志物出现，这可能有助于在人类和兽医医学中提高黑色素瘤的诊断水平。
