We compared the gene expression profile of SFs from FM individuals with two distinct CDKN2A/p16 mutations (V126D-p16 and R87P-p16) with the gene expression profile of SFs from age-matched individuals without p16 mutations and with no family history of melanoma.
All other variants detected either constitutionally in familial melanoma patients (I49T, R87P, G101W and V126D) or somatically in melanomas (N71S, and P81L), appeared functionally impaired in this assay.
The remaining two mutations, a G-to-W mutation at position 101 (Gl01W) and V126D, both of which are associated with familial melanoma, were found to be temperature sensitive for binding to Cdk4 and Cdk6 in vitro, for inhibiting cyclin D1-Cdk4 in a reconstituted pRb-kinase assay, and for increasing the proportion of G1-phase cells following transfection.