Fig. 1

Inhibition of MEK induces hyperpigmentation and widespread gene expression changes in 501mel melanoma cells. a ERK and phosphorylated ERK (p-ERK) Western blots of whole-cell lysates derived from 501mel cells treated with DMSO or AZD6244 (200 nM). Tubulin was used as a protein loading control. b Cell pellets from 501mel cells after 72 h of treatment with DMSO or AZD6244. c Volcano plot of genes with significantly altered expression levels under AZD6244 treatment. Downregulated genes are in green, and upregulated genes are in red; the genes with an absolute fold-change > 2.4 and a p-adjusted value > 0.05 are labeled. d Gene ontology analysis on the genes significantly upregulated and downregulated in response to AZD6244 treatment. The top enriched processes for upregulated genes affect developmental pigmentation and autophagy, while those for downregulated genes affect protein targeting to membranes and protein translation