PMEL

Overview

PMEL (premelanosome protein, also known as gp100 or SILV) encodes a transmembrane glycoprotein essential for melanosome biogenesis and melanin polymerization. It is a canonical lineage marker of melanocytic differentiation, expressed in both normal melanocytes and melanoma cells, and has been exploited as a tumor-associated antigen target in immunotherapy.

Alterations observed in the corpus

  • Lineage confirmation marker: PMEL transcript serves as a positive-identity marker for melanocytes alongside TYRP1, MLANA, and MITF in a normal human skin single-cell atlas — no somatic driver alterations are reported in this normal-tissue study. PMID:39975212

Cancer types (linked)

  • MEL (Melanoma) / SKIN: PMEL is a melanocyte-lineage marker used to confirm melanocyte identity in scRNA-seq/spatial profiling of non-lesional skin adjacent to a melanoma patient. No driver-mutation role is reported in the corpus. PMID:39975212

Co-occurrence and mutual exclusivity

Therapeutic relevance

  • PMEL-derived peptides (e.g., gp100) have historically been used as melanoma vaccine antigens and as targets for adoptive T-cell therapy. No direct therapeutic finding reported in the current corpus.

Open questions

  • Role of PMEL expression level in distinguishing HighMut versus LowMut melanocyte subpopulations (as defined by somatic mutation burden) is not established by the corpus — PMEL is used only as a lineage marker and not as a subpopulation discriminator. PMID:39975212

Sources

This page was processed by crosslinker on 2026-05-04.