WM46 Viable Cells

Cells are sterile, validated by short tandem repeat profiling, and are tested as negative for mycoplasma. It is recommended that cell lines are tested for mycoplasma contamination and short tandem repeat (STR) profiling every 10 passages or each time a frozen seed stock is made. See cell culture protocol for additional details. WM46 is a metastatic human melanoma cell line that displays a pigmented fibroblastic morphology. This cell line was established from left chest & abdomen in a 43-year-old female patient with level IV superficial spreading melanoma and a tumor thickness of 1.44. This cell line features the specific V600E (Val600Glu) mutation at codon 600 in the BRAF gene. This mutation causes constitutively active kinase activity and activation of MEK and ERK signaling pathway. This cell line expresses PTEN loss of function including hemizygous deletion, and R24C mutation at position 24 in the CDK4 gene. The R24C mutation results in an amino acid substitution at codon 24 in CDK4, from an arginine (R) to cysteine (C). This mutation abolishes the ability of CDK4 to bind to p16(INK4a). WM46 cells produce xenograft tumors when injected into immunocompromised mice.