B7-H3 Associated with Tumor Progression and Epigenetic Regulatory Activity in Cutaneous Melanoma

B7-H3, a cell surface transmembrane glycoprotein, was assessed for its functional and prognostic role in cutaneous melanoma progression. B7-H3 expression in melanoma cells was shown to be related to specific downstream signal transduction events as well as associated with functional epigenetic activity. B7-H3 expression and prognostic utility were shown by reverse transcription and real-time PCR and immunohistochemistry analysis on individual melanoma specimens and then verified in clinically annotated melanoma stage III and stage IV metastasis tissue microarrays in a double-blind study. B7-H3 messenger RNA expression was shown to be significantly increased with stage of melanoma (P<0.0001) and significantly associated with melanoma-specific survival in both stage III (P<0.0001) and stage IV (P<0.012) melanoma patients. B7-H3 expression was related to migration and invasion; overexpression of B7-H3 increased migration and invasion, whereas knockdown of B7-H3 reduced cell migration and invasion. MiR-29c expression was shown to inversely regulate B7-H3 expression. Furthermore, we demonstrated that melanoma B7-H3 expression was correlated to phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 activity level in melanoma tissues and cell lines. These studies demonstrate that B7-H3 is a significant factor in melanoma progression and events of metastasis.