MITF and melanoma: In melanoma cells the target genes of MITF include most notably TYR, MCIR, DCT, MLANA involved in the process of pigmentation; cell cycle regulators such as CDK2 and CDKN1A and the more recently identified BRCA1 gene that has, with other target DNA repair genes, defined a role for MITF in the DNA damage response (DDR) (Strub et al., 2011; Beuret et al., 2011; Giuliano et al., 2010).