Malignant melanoma: treatments emerging, but early detection is still key.

New Advances on the Functions of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor and Ceramides in Skin Cell Differentiation, Disorders and Cancers

“…A good example is injection of dentritic cells or cytotoxic T cells, which enhances the antitumor immune responses. Additional studies are required to determine the benefit of cellular immunotherapy on survival [181,182]. Moreover, the treatment of human malignant melanoma with combined p53 vector plus antisense cyclin D1 has been observed to lead to enhanced growth-suppressive and apoptotic effects as compared with either therapy alone [173].…”

Calcaneal Melanoma; Our Rare Case and Review of the Literature

“…Surgical treatment with excision biopsy remains the main treatment for melanoma. The recommended margins of excision depend on the thickness of the lesion: for melanoma in situ, the margins stand for 0.5 cm, for melanomas with thickness of less than 1 mm, the margins should be 1 cm and for melanomas with thickness equal or greater than 1 mm these should be 2 cm [1]. Excision should extend to and include the subcutaneous tissue down to, without the underlying muscle fascia [5].…”

“…A variety of risk factors contribute to melanoma development, including dysplastic nevi, genetic factors and sun exposure. Familial syndromes, CDKN2A deletion, CDK4 over expression and other unidentified mechanisms can function as the genetic components for melanoma pathogenesis [1]. Four types of cutaneous malignant melanoma exist: superficial spreading (70%), nodular (15-30%), lentigo malignant and acral lentiginous melanoma.…”

Augmentation of effects of interferon-stimulated genes by reversal of epigenetic silencing: Potential application to melanoma

“…Changes in ISGs vary both quantitatively and qualitatively depending upon tissue and IFN type. Building upon the identification of transcriptional induction of genes by IFNs [10,14,15], our prior studies have focused on the functional significance of over a dozen different ISGs ( [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. In clinical studies, this work has identified differences in IFN types and helped guide considerations of schedule, route, and dose.…”

“…Approximately 75,000 individuals in the United States will be newly diagnosed with melanoma this year; 60% of those who die will be individuals under 60 years of age who would otherwise have had a life expectancy of 25 years or more. Unfortunately, since the advances marked by identification of IFNs and IL-2 as human proteins therapeutically active in melanoma, the past 15 years has been notable more for negative Phase III trials than for clinically significant reduction in mortality from systemic metastatic disease [11][12][13]. While sorafenib and antibodies to the T cell ligand, CTLA-4, hold new promise, improved therapies for the high risk primary and metastatic patient are much needed.…”