Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Spatial and Temporal Control of Murine Melanoma Initiation from Mutant Melanocyte Stem Cells
06:09

Spatial and Temporal Control of Murine Melanoma Initiation from Mutant Melanocyte Stem Cells

Published on: June 7, 2019

9.6K

Neural crest state activation in NRAS driven melanoma, but not in NRAS-driven melanocyte expansion

Alicia M McConnell1, Jeffrey K Mito2, Julien Ablain1

  • 1Stem Cell Program and Division of Hematology/Oncology, Children's Hospital Boston, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

Developmental Biology
|June 9, 2018
PubMed

Insights

NRAS mutations drive melanoma development in zebrafish. Early lesions expand melanocytes but lack malignancy, later progressing to invasive tumors by reactivating neural crest pathways.

Area of Science:

  • Oncology
  • Genetics
  • Developmental Biology

Background:

  • NRAS mutations are prevalent in deadly cancers, particularly malignant melanoma.
  • Understanding NRAS-driven melanoma initiation and progression is crucial for therapeutic development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To establish a rapid zebrafish model for NRAS-mutant melanoma.
  • To investigate the early events and progression of NRAS-driven melanomas.

Main Methods:

  • Generation of a transient transgenic zebrafish model expressing NRASQ61R.
  • Monitoring melanocytic proliferation and tumor development over time.
  • Utilizing the crestin:EGFP reporter to track neural crest progenitor markers.

Main Results:

  • NRASQ61R induced rapid, extensive melanocyte expansion within 4 weeks.
  • Most early lesions lacked malignancy and failed to engraft.
  • By 8-12 weeks, some lesions progressed to invasive malignant melanoma, expressing neural crest markers.

Conclusions:

  • NRASQ61R promotes melanocyte expansion but not immediate malignancy in zebrafish.
  • Early NRAS-driven lesions are predisposed to reactivate neural crest progenitor fate, leading to malignant melanoma formation.
Keywords:
CancerMelanomaNRASNeural crest

More Related Videos

Light-driven Enzymatic Decarboxylation09:58

Light-driven Enzymatic Decarboxylation

Published on: May 22, 2016

12.3K
Dissection, Culture and Analysis of Primary Cranial Neural Crest Cells from Mouse for the Study of Neural Crest Cell Delamination and Migration09:33

Dissection, Culture and Analysis of Primary Cranial Neural Crest Cells from Mouse for the Study of Neural Crest Cell Delamination and Migration

Published on: October 3, 2019

11.6K

Related Concept Videos

ATP Driven Pumps I: An Overview01:27

ATP Driven Pumps I: An Overview

ATP-driven pumps, also known as transport ATPases, are integral membrane proteins. They have binding sites for ATP located on the membrane's cytosolic side and the ion-conducting domain in the transmembrane region. These pumps use the free energy released from ATP hydrolysis to move the solutes across cell membranes against an electrochemical gradient.
There are four main types of ATP-driven pumps - P-type, V-type, F-type, and ABC transporter. All these pumps are of varying complexities and...
9.9K
Xylem and Transpiration-driven Transport of Resources02:03

Xylem and Transpiration-driven Transport of Resources

The xylem of vascular plants distributes water and dissolved minerals that are taken up by the roots to the rest of the plant. The cells that transport xylem sap are dead upon maturity, and the movement of xylem sap is a passive process.
26.8K
ATP Driven Pumps II: P-type Pumps01:34

ATP Driven Pumps II: P-type Pumps

The P-type pumps are a large family of integral membrane transporter ATPases. They are divided into five major types based on substrate specificity, from I to V.
A typical P-type pump has three cytosolic domains: nucleotide-binding (N), phosphorylation (P), and activator (A) domains. These domains are connected to the membrane-spanning helices by short amino acid segments. ATP hydrolysis and covalent phosphoenzyme intermediate formation are crucial parts of the catalytic cycle. At the highly...
6.4K
ATP Driven Pumps III: V-type Pumps01:30

ATP Driven Pumps III: V-type Pumps

V-type pumps are ATP-driven pumps found in the vacuolar membranes of plants, yeast, endosomal and lysosomal membranes of animal cells, plasma membranes of a few specialized eukaryotic cells, and some prokaryotes. They are also known as the V1Vo-ATPase, that couple ATP hydrolysis to transport protons against a concentration gradient.
The peripheral or cytosolic V1 domain with eight subunits is involved in ATP hydrolysis. The integral or transmembrane V0 domain containing at least five subunits...
4.9K
Heat and Free Expansion01:24

Heat and Free Expansion

The work done by a thermodynamic system depends not only on the initial and final states but also on the intermediate states—that is, on the path. Like work, when heat is added to a thermodynamic system, it undergoes a change of state, and the state attained depends on the path from the initial state to the final state. Consider an ideal gas cylinder fitted with a piston. When the cylinder is heated at a constant temperature, the gas molecules absorb energy and expand slowly in a...
2.9K
Neural Regulation01:37

Neural Regulation

Digestion begins with a cephalic phase that prepares the digestive system to receive food. When our brain processes visual or olfactory information about food, it triggers impulses in the cranial nerves innervating the salivary glands and stomach to prepare for food.
43.5K