SEMINAR: �Stem Cells and Melanoma�

Dr. Frank's laboratory research, conducted in the Transplantation Research Center of Children's Hospital Boston and the Department of Dermatology at Brigham and Women's Hospital, focuses on the physiological and pathological roles of the human P-glycoprotein family of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. Moreover, his laboratory has cloned and characterized a novel human ABC transporter, ABCB5, which marks mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) subpopulations in human and murine skin. Dr. Frank's work has demonstrated a unique regulatory role of ABCB5 in the newly recognized phenomenon of stem cell fusion, and in cell fusion-dependent growth and differentiation.

Dr. Frank's laboratory has also shown that ABCB5 serves as a multidrug resistance transporter in human malignant melanoma, conferring resistance to chemotherapy in vitro. Subsequent work has shown that ABCB5 expression 1) marks melanoma cells of stem cell phenotype and function; 2) correlates with tumorigenic growth of melanoma cells in vivo; and 3) is more abundant in human malignant melanoma than in benign melanocytic nevi in human patients (Schatton et al. Nature 2008).

Dr. Frank's laboratory explores the clinical relevance of ABCB5 as a biomarker of melanoma progression, prognosis, and outcome, and investigates the therapeutic efficacy of ABCB5 targeting in human malignant melanoma.