Melan-a Mouse Melanocyte Cell Line

Melanoma is one of the most malignant skin cancers, being responsible for three out of four skin cancer-related deaths (1). The increasing worldwide incidence of melanoma has spurred intensive research into the molecular mechanisms that give rise to malignant forms. Melanoma arises from melanocytes, pigment-producing cells that are found throughout the body. The availability of robust cellular models that reflect normal skin melanocytes is essential to understanding the etiology and abnormalities of melanomas.
The Melan-a cell line is an immortal melanocyte cell line derived from embryonic mouse skin and was the first established non-tumorigenic mouse melanocyte cell line (2). Melan-a cells are diploid in chromosome number and syngeneic with C57BL mice and sublines of B16 melanoma, enabling comparative studies. Melan-a cells exhibit the pigmentation and morphology of normal melanocytes and express gp100 as well as the melanocyte marker MelanA. Melan-a cells proliferate in the presence of the tumor promoter tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate (TPA).

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The Melan-a cell line was derived from trunk skin of embryonic day 18 C57BL mice (2).

Research Category:
Cancer

Mouse, Cancer Cells

&ge;1X10⁶ cells/vial

Store in liquid nitrogen. The cells can be cultured for at least 10 passages after initial thawing without significantly affecting the cell marker expression and functionality.

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