Malignant melanoma has a high mutational rate. As a result, resistance to current
therapies is common. Consequently, there is an unmet medical need to develop novel
therapies. Recent data suggest that
branched-chain amino acid transaminase 1 (BCAT1) is overexpressed in multiple
cancers, and such overexpressed BCAT1 is necessary for individual
cancer progression. Therefore, BCAT1 appears to be a good target in
cancer treatment. Additionally, because its expression in healthy tissues is highly restricted in adults and is limited to the brain, ovary, and placenta, BCAT1 is especially an ideal target in
cancer therapies. Currently, the function of BCAT1 in
malignant melanoma has not been demonstrated. Therefore, we investigated the role of BCAT1 in the proliferation and migration of
malignant melanomas using human samples and mouse malignant
B16 melanoma cell line. Our data showed that BCAT1 was overexpressed in
malignant melanoma tissues both in humans and mice. Besides, BCAT1 knockdown suppressed
melanoma cell proliferation and migration, which was associated with reduced oxidative phosphorylation. Collectively, our data indicate that BCAT1 is a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of
malignant melanomas.