Incubation with a well-described HLA-E-stabilizing peptide (VMAPRTLIL) derived from the leading sequence of HLA-Cw*03 or a non-binding irrelevant peptide melanoma antigen-encoding gene (MAGE-1) (EADPTGHSY)/ human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) phosphoprotein (PP) 65 (NLVPMVATV) was used as the positive control or the negative control, showing the highest or lowest levels of HLA-E expression respectively. The gene discussed is HLA-E; the disease is melanoma.