Since homeobox-containing genes (HOX genes) are a family of transcriptional regulators, which give cells positional information in morphogenesis, cancer metastasis can be explained as a heterotopic expression of HOX genes. In the present study, we investigated expression of a homeobox gene “HOXD3” and a cell adhesion molecule “integrin β3” in human melanomas. Seven cell lines of human melanoma were used as materials. The expressions of HOXD3 and integrin β3 were investigated by RT-PCR and FACS respectively. HOXD3 expressed in 6/7 cell lines and integrin β3 in 6/7. Expression of HOXD3 was highly related to expression of integrin β3 in almost all cell lines. Since it has been reported that melanoma cells use integrin β3 for their invasion and metastasis, HOXD3 can be considered as a factor regulating malignancy.
