MLANA and neoplasm: Indeed, MITF functions as a central regulator of melanocyte differentiation and melanogenesis by controlling the transcription of a panel of genes, including melan-A (MART1), tyrosinase and premelanosome protein PMEL17 (PMEL/SILV/gp100) [36–38], which encode proteins that have been reported to be tumor-specific antigens [39, 40].