The glycosylation of tyrosinase in melanoma cells and the effect on antigen presentation.

Abstract

Tyrosinase is constitutively expressed by normal melanocytes and melanoma cells. Both melanocytes and melanoma cells are proposed to differentiate from an early melanocyte precursor sharing most of their basic phenotypes. In these cells tyrosinase is transported through the secretory pathway to melanosomes, intracellular organelles specialized in melanin synthesis. Tyrosinase arrival in melanosomes initiates melanogenesis by catalyzing the first step of a cascade of oxidations, isomerical rearrangements and polymerizations starting with the oxidation of tyrosine to DOPA and ending with the formation of the insoluble polymer melanin.