Affiliations: Institute of Pathology, University Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany | Cartela AB, Biomedical Center B12, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden | The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Note: [] Corresponding author: Anja-Katrin Bosserhoff, PhD, Institute of Pathology, University of Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauss-Allee 11, D-93053 Regensburg, Germany. Tel.: +49 941 944 6705; Fax: +49 941 944 6602; E-mail: anja.bosserhoff@klinik.uni-regensburg.de
Abstract: Recently, integrin alpha10 was described as a collagen type II-binding integrin expressed mainly in chondrocytes. However, by array studies we detected integrin alpha10 also to be upregulated in malignant melanoma compared to primary melanocytes. Subsequent analysis of melanoma cell lines and melanoma tumor samples confirmed this finding. Further, we demonstrated that expression of integrin alpha10 is controlled by AP-2 and Ets-1, two transcription factors known to be involved in melanoma development and progression. To investigate the functional relevance of integrin alpha10, expression was downregulated via stable antisense transfection. Proliferation assays and colony forming assays revealed no differences comparing antisense integrin alpha10 cell clones with control and wild type melanoma cells, respectively. However, antisense integrin alpha10 cell clones and Mel Im cells treated with an inhibitory antibody against integrin alpha10 showed a reduced migratory potential. In summary, these data indicate that AP-2 and Ets-1 regulated expression of integrin alpha10 plays a role in migration of malignant melanoma cells.
