Keratin expression and its significance in five cultured melanoma cell lines derived from primary, recurrent and metastasized melanomas.

With the exception of two cases, keratin is not expressed in cultured human melanoma cells. Using 2D-PAGE, immunological and electron microscopic analyses, we found keratin subunits in five established cultured cell lines derived from primary, recurrent and metastasized melanomas. The keratin subunits were composed of K1, K5, K10, K14, K15 and K18 in all cell lines examined, together with vimentin. In addition, K8, K16 and K18 expression were demonstrated in recurrent and metastasized cell lines. The results of the present and our previous study [Katagata Y, et al. J Dermatol Sci 1996;13:219-227] indicate that expression of keratin in melanoma cells may be a universal phenomenon. A specific increase in the proportion of K5 among the keratin subunits was suggestive of the nature of melanoma cells. Moreover, we detected two polypeptides that migrated on 2D-PAGE at positions which did not correspond to those of any keratin subunit. The amino acid sequences of these two polypeptides were determined; one was the human ATP synthase alpha-chain but the other did not match any known polypeptide in our homology search.