The LN plays important roles in melanoma pathogenesis and metastasis; as the first site of melanoma metastasis and a critical source of anti-tumor lymphocytes. Active tumor-dependent mechanisms coopt LN function to affect regional metastatic and immune potential, processes that converge to drive systemic progression. Robust characterization of the dynamic evolution of transcriptional changes and cellular composition that occur within LNs during early stages of melanoma development, however, has not been reported. We anticipate that a developing tumor secretes factors that prime a pre-metastatic niche in draining LNs, beginning a process of LN education and immune suppression that favors distal metastatic spread.