PMEL monoclonal antibody

PMEL/Melanoma gp100 is a type 1 transmembrane glycoprotein primarily expressed in pigment cells of the skin and eye, and overexpressed in more than 75% of human melanomas . It is involved in the transformation of melanosomes from stage I to stage II, forming the fibrillar matrix necessary for pigmentation of the cell . The synthesis and modification of PMEL/Melanoma gp100 is done in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and transferred to the Golgi complex where it is cleaved into two disulfide-linked subunits, Mα and Mβ. The cleavage of the large luminal Mα fragment is required for the formation of the fibrils that are the structure for melanin synthesis . The ability for PMEL/Melanoma gp100 to form functional amyloids makes it an interesting protein to study when looking at pathological amyloids in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease . Due to melanocyte-restricted expression of this protein, PMEL/Melanoma gp100 is considered a tumor-associated antigen that can be targeted by immunotherapeutic approaches to treat melanoma .