Growth factors, receptor kinases, and protein tyrosine phosphatases in normal and malignant melanocytes.

Normal human melanocyte proliferation and differentiation is dependent on stimulation of one of three growth factor/receptor systems. They are fibroblast growth factor (FGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and mast cell growth factor (MGF), which activate the FGF receptor, c-Met, and c-Kit, respectively, known to be receptor tyrosine kinases. In contrast, human melanoma cells from primary nodular and metastatic lesions grow autonomously partially because of inappropriate production of basic FGF (bFGF) and continuous activation of the bFGF-receptor kinase. Activation of transmembrane receptor tyrosine kinases in melanocytes stimulates not only proliferation but also the expression of pigmentation. Melanoma cells constitutively express several tyrosyl-phosphorylated proteins that in normal melanocytes are stimulated in response to growth factors. This high level of phosphorylation was not due to either the presence of constitutively active Kit kinase and Met kinase nor to the absence of any of several known protein tyrosine phosphatases. Because bFGF by itself does not transform melanocytes to melanomas, there must be additional cooperating factors that confer the malignant phenotype to pigment cells.