{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,16]],"date-time":"2026-04-16T15:22:30Z","timestamp":1776352950839,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,29]],"date-time":"2022-08-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1661731200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea","award":["HR21C1003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HR21C1003"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Marine Drugs"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Excessive increase in melanin pigment in the skin can be caused by a variety of environmental factors, including UV radiation, and can result in spots, freckles, and skin cancer. Therefore, it is important to develop functional whitening cosmetic reagents that regulate melanogenesis. In this study, we investigated the effects of echinochrome A (Ech A) on melanogenesis in the B16F10 murine melanoma cell line. We triggered B16F10 cells using \u03b1-MSH under Ech A treatment to observe melanin synthesis and analyze expression changes in melanogenesis-related enzymes (tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TYRP1), and tyrosinase-related protein 2 (TYRP2)) at the mRNA and protein levels. Furthermore, we measured expression changes in the microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF), CREB, and pCREB proteins. Melanin synthesis in the cells stimulated by \u03b1-MSH was significantly reduced by Ech A. The expression of the tyrosinase, TYRP1, and TYRP2 mRNA and proteins was significantly decreased by Ech A, as was that of the MITF, CREB, and pCREB proteins. These results show that Ech A suppresses melanin synthesis by regulating melanogenesis-related enzymes through the CREB signaling pathway and suggest the potential of Ech A as a functional agent to prevent pigmentation and promote skin whitening.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/md20090555","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,29]],"date-time":"2022-08-29T22:53:42Z","timestamp":1661813622000},"page":"555","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":14,"title":["Echinochrome A Inhibits Melanogenesis in B16F10 Cells by Downregulating CREB Signaling"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"20","author":[{"given":"Mi","family":"Choi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon 16499, Korea"},{"name":"Laboratory Animal Research Center, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon 16499, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Heejin","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Seoul St. Mary\u2019s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1791-7865","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hyoung","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Smart Marine Therapeutic Center, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Graduate School, Inje University Busan, Busan 50834, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1859-3425","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jin","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Center, Smart Marine Therapeutic Center, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Graduate School, Inje University Busan, Busan 50834, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jung","family":"Seol","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dermatology, Inje University Busan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan 47392, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7526-026X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elena","family":"Vasileva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7616-574X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Natalia","family":"Mishchenko","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4199-2099","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sergey","family":"Fedoreyev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Valentin","family":"Stonik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Far-Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, 690022 Vladivostok, Russia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Won","family":"Ju","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon 16499, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Dai-Jin","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Seoul St. Mary\u2019s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sang-Rae","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon 16499, Korea"},{"name":"Laboratory Animal Research Center, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon 16499, Korea"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,8,29]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"666","DOI":"10.1111\/1523-1747.ep12371673","article-title":"Treatment of human melanocytes and S91 melanoma cells with the DNA repair enzyme T4 endonuclease V enhances melanogenesis after ultraviolet irradiation","volume":"101","author":"Gilchrest","year":"1993","journal-title":"J. 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