Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:1.10.3.1 (tyrosinase)
 9,065 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Vaccine studies using whole tumor cells or heterogeneous mixtures of tumor antigens provide intriguing evidence that cancer vaccines might be effective. Now it is possible to test vaccines composed of well-characterized proteins and peptides. Testing vaccine formulations composed of known and defined antigens will allow a more precise determination as to why vaccines work when they work, and why they do not work when they fail. The demonstration that human malignancy is immunogenic and the definition of human tumor antigens has set the stage for a new generation of cancer vaccines directly targeting immunogenic cancer-related peptides and proteins. Many newly defined tumor antigens are self proteins. As an example, screening existent immunity in human melanoma has identified responses to nonmutated self proteins: MAGE, MART, gp100, and tyrosinase. Tolerance to self antigens now emerges as a possible mechanism of tumor immune escape. A new puzzle has emerged for tumor immunologists to solve; how to harness immunity to "self" tumor antigens for cancer therapeutics.
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PMID:HER-2/neu oncogenic protein: issues in vaccine development. 941 46

The aim of this study was to develop a highly sensitive two-marker assay for the detection of circulating melanoma cells in patients' blood using a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). We analysed the usefulness of two different sets of markers: tyrosinase and MUC-18 (TYR/MUC-18), and tyrosinase and MART 1 (TYR/MART 1). Total cellular RNA was isolated from 337 blood samples from 80 melanoma patients at different stages of the disease. All patients had undergone primary surgery. Assay sensitivity and specificity were confirmed using three different melanoma cell lines and two different fibroblast lines. In addition, blood from 47 healthy subjects and 10 patients with non-melanoma cancer was used as a negative control. We found that two-marker analysis is more accurate than the single tyrosinase assay. The frequency of melanoma cell detection in patients' blood was about 10% higher when the TYR/MART 1 two-marker assay was used. Using this assay we did not find any statistical correlation between the molecular markers and the UICC stage of disease or the Breslow thickness or Clark level of the primary melanoma. The frequency of melanoma cell detection with the TYR/MUC-18 two-marker assay was even higher than the TYR/MART 1 assay, but unfortunately the MUC-18 transcript was also present in about 20% of healthy subjects. Therefore we do not recommend the use of MUC-18 as a standard value marker.
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PMID:Detection of circulating melanoma cells in peripheral blood by a two-marker RT-PCR assay. 1125 17

The authors investigated a group of 51 patients (29 men and 22 women) with intraocular melanoma: 41 patients with melanoma of the chorioid, 10 patients with melanoma of the ciliary body. They evaluated the clinical and pathological finding according to the TNM classification recommended by UICC (International Union Against Cancer). In all investigated patients they assessed circulating tumour cells (melanocytes) in the peripheral blood stream based on the detection of mRNA tyrosinase and marker MART 1. When evaluating the presence of markers according to the diagnosis irrespective of time, they found in patients in the clinical stage of T2 choroidal melanoma a 19% positivity of different markers and very rare a concurrent positivity of both markers. Patients in the clinical stage T3 had a 51% positivity of one marker and 34% concurrent positivity of both markers. In melanoma of the ciliary body evidence of individual markers was positive in 17% and only in 11% both markers were positive concurrently. On comparison of therapeutic procedures from the aspect of development in time in patients treated by brachytherapy only rare positivity was found at the time of administration the radioactive plaque, following an eight-month interval after brachytherapy the positivity of markers increased to 28%. On evaluation of markers of choroidal melanoma and ciliary body melanoma resolved by enucleation had their positivity at the time of operation was 36%, and during check-ups up to one year or longer it persisted at similar levels. Concurrent presence of both markers before this operation was rare, during postoperative check-up examinations it was within a range of 23 and 33%. The presence of both markers was repeatedly proved in five patients with chooidal melanoma after enucleation of the eye, in four of them in direct correlation with a metastatic process.
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PMID:[Detection of tumor circulating cells in patients with ocular melanoma]. 1218 79

BACKGROUND: In the management of cutaneous melanoma, it is desirable to complete the regional lymphadenectomy during the initial surgical procedure for wide excision of biopsy site and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy. In this study, we optimized and evaluated a rapid 17 minutes immunostaining protocol. The discriminatory immunostaining pattern associated with the 'MCW Melanoma Cocktail' (mixture of Melan- A, MART- 1, and tyrosinase) facilitated the feasibility of intraoperative evaluation of imprint smears of SLNs for melanoma metastases. METHODS: Imprint smears of 51 lymph nodes from 25 cases (48 SLNs and 3 non-SLNs, 1 to 4 SLNs/case) of cutaneous melanoma were evaluated. RESULTS: Sixteen percent, 8/51 lymph nodes (28%, 7/25 cases) were positive for melanoma metastases in immunostained permanent sections with the 'MCW melanoma cocktail'. All of these melanoma metastases, except 1 SLN from 1 case, were also detected in rapidly immunostained wet-fixed and air-dried smears (rehydrated in saline and postfixed in alcoholic formalin). The cytomorphology was superior in air-dried smears, which were rehydrated in saline and postfixed in alcoholic formalin. Wet-fixed smears frequently showed air-drying artifacts, which lead to the focal loss of immunostaining. None of the 5 SLNs from 5 cases exhibiting capsular nevi showed a false positive result with immunostained imprint smears. CONCLUSIONS: Melanoma metastases can be detected intraoperatively in both air-dried smears and wet-fixed smears immunostained with the MCW Melanoma cocktail. Air-dried smears rehydrated in saline and postfixed in alcoholic formalin provide superior results and many practical benefits.
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PMID:Optimization of an immunostaining protocol for the rapid intraoperative evaluation of melanoma sentinel lymph node imprint smears with the 'MCW melanoma cocktail' 1550 Jul 2