The example of Sox10 and Rac1 genes provides detailed illustration of how interfering with these important genes for neural crest development can prevent melanoma formation.
As cell-cycle dysregulation is a core event in neoplastic transformation, the role for SOX10 in maintaining cell-cycle control in melanocytes suggests a rational new direction for targeted treatment or prevention of melanoma.
Using mutagenesis, co-transfection experiments and chromatin immunoprecipitation, we showed that transcription factors involved in meloe promoter activity in melanomas were the melanocytic specific SOX9 and SOX10 proteins together with the activated P-CREB protein.
SOX10 was strongly expressed in the benign tissues, but for the malignant tumors superficial spreading melanomas stained stronger than nodular malignant melanomas (P=0.008).
Improper regulation of SOX9 or SOX10 is also associated with cancerous transformation, and thus understanding the normal function of SOX proteins in the melanocyte will be key to revealing how these proteins contribute to melanoma.