Thus, we used matched staining information for 127 of 180 MM tumors for the MITF protein, which is a melanocyte‐specific transcription factor important in melanocyte differentiation and melanoma cell survival (Carreira et al., 2005; Garraway et al., 2005; McGill et al., 2002; reviewed in Levy et al., 2006; Steingrímsson et al., 2004). Here, MITF is linked to melanoma.