{"doi":"10.3389/fimmu.2022.794974","title":"Autocrine/Paracrine Loop Between SCF+/c-Kit+ Mast Cells Promotes Cutaneous Melanoma Progression","abstract":"<jats:p>c-Kit, or mast/stem cell growth factor receptor Kit, is a tyrosine kinase receptor structurally analogous to the colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) CSF-1/PDGF receptor Tyr-subfamily. It binds the cytokine KITLG/SCF to regulate cell survival and proliferation, hematopoiesis, stem cell maintenance, gametogenesis, mast cell development, migration and function, and it plays an essential role in melanogenesis. SCF and c-Kit are biologically active as membrane-bound and soluble forms. They can be expressed by tumor cells and cells of the microenvironment playing a crucial role in tumor development, progression, and relapses. To date, few investigations have concerned the role of SCF<jats:sup>+</jats:sup>/c-Kit<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> mast cells in normal, premalignant, and malignant skin lesions that resemble steps of malignant melanoma progression. In this study, by immunolabeling reactions, we demonstrated that in melanoma lesions, SCF and c-Kit were expressed in mast cells and released by themselves, suggesting an autocrine/paracrine loop might be implicated in regulatory mechanisms of neoangiogenesis and tumor progression in human melanoma.</jats:p>","journal":"Frontiers in Immunology","year":2022,"id":613295,"datarank":0.48283137373023016,"base_score":3.2188758248682006,"endowment":3.2188758248682006,"self_citation_contribution":0.48283137373023016,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.48283137373023016,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":24,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1579912,"name":"Roberto Tamma","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1579913,"name":"Mariella Bozza","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1579914,"name":"Alfredo Zito","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":169100,"name":"Domenico Ribatti","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":669766,"name":"Tiziana Annese","orcid":"0000-0002-7752-0368","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Autocrine/Paracrine Loop Between SCF+/c-Kit+ Mast Cells Promotes Cutaneous Melanoma Progression","abstract":"<jats:p>c-Kit, or mast/stem cell growth factor receptor Kit, is a tyrosine kinase receptor structurally analogous to the colony-stimulating factor-1 (CSF-1) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) CSF-1/PDGF receptor Tyr-subfamily. It binds the cytokine KITLG/SCF to regulate cell survival and proliferation, hematopoiesis, stem cell maintenance, gametogenesis, mast cell development, migration and function, and it plays an essential role in melanogenesis. SCF and c-Kit are biologically active as membrane-bound and soluble forms. They can be expressed by tumor cells and cells of the microenvironment playing a crucial role in tumor development, progression, and relapses. To date, few investigations have concerned the role of SCF<jats:sup>+</jats:sup>/c-Kit<jats:sup>+</jats:sup> mast cells in normal, premalignant, and malignant skin lesions that resemble steps of malignant melanoma progression. In this study, by immunolabeling reactions, we demonstrated that in melanoma lesions, SCF and c-Kit were expressed in mast cells and released by themselves, suggesting an autocrine/paracrine loop might be implicated in regulatory mechanisms of neoangiogenesis and tumor progression in human melanoma.</jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":3.2188758248682006,"endowment":3.2188758248682006,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"35140718","pmcid":"PMC8818866","openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W4206898165","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":1.5077,"citation_percentile":0.82110387,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2022,"count":3},{"year":2023,"count":4},{"year":2024,"count":9},{"year":2025,"count":4},{"year":2026,"count":4}],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.794974/pdf","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.794974/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2022.794974/full","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.794974","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35140718","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://doaj.org/article/d3b1b3683677486f9a1523b1741f244f","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/8818866","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://hdl.handle.net/11586/417114","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC8818866","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC8818866?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":["Mast cells and histamine","Polyamine Metabolism and Applications","melanin and skin pigmentation","Adult","Autocrine Communication","Disease Progression","Disease Susceptibility","Female","Humans","Immunohistochemistry","Immunophenotyping","Male","Mast Cells","Melanoma","Middle Aged","Neoplasm Grading","Neoplasm Staging","Paracrine Communication","Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit","Skin Neoplasms","Stem Cell Factor","Tumor Microenvironment","Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma"],"mesh_terms":["Melanoma, Cutaneous Malignant","Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma","Adult","Disease Susceptibility","Female","Humans","Immunohistochemistry","Male","Mast Cells","Melanoma","Middle Aged","Neoplasm Staging","Skin Neoplasms","Immunophenotyping","Disease Progression","Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit","Stem Cell Factor","Autocrine Communication","Paracrine Communication","Tumor Microenvironment","Neoplasm Grading"],"keywords":["Stem cell factor","Autocrine signalling","Paracrine signalling","Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit","Mast cell","Cancer research","Cytokine","Receptor tyrosine kinase","Platelet-derived growth factor receptor","Biology","Growth factor","Tumor progression","Stem cell","Cell biology","Haematopoiesis","Immunology","Receptor","Signal transduction","Melanoma","Mast cells","Angiogenesis","Tumor Microenevironment"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[{"name":"gen"}],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-02T07:30:34.743744Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}