Standard melanoma-associated markers do not identify the MM127 metastatic melanoma cell line.

Reliable identification of different melanoma cell lines is important for many aspects of melanoma research. Common markers used to identify melanoma cell lines include: S100; HMB-45; and Melan-A. We explore the expression of these three markers in four different melanoma cell lines: WM35; WM793; SK-MEL-28; and MM127. The expression of these markers is examined at both the mRNA and protein level. Our results show that the metastatic cell line, MM127, cannot be detected using any of the commonly used melanoma-associated markers. This implies that it would be very difficult to identify this particular cell line in a heterogeneous sample, and as a result this cell line should be used with care.