Most patients with BRAF(V600)-mutant metastatic melanoma develop resistance to selective RAF kinase inhibitors. The spectrum of clinical genetic resistance mechanisms to RAF inhibitors and options for salvage therapy are incompletely understood. We performed whole-exome sequencing on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tumors from 45 patients with BRAF(V600)-mutant metastatic melanoma who receive...

Prior to 2011, the 1-year survival rates for patients suffering from advanced or metastatic melanoma was as low as 33%, with a median overall survival of about 9 months. Several chemotherapeutic regimens have been applied, either as monochemotherapy or as polychemotherapy, overall not resulting in an improvement of progression-free or overall survival. Novel insights into the epidemiology and b...

Sentinel lymph node (SLN) status is the most accurate predictor of survival in melanoma patients with clinically negative regional nodes [1,2]. Until recently, metastatic S...

Advanced malignant melanoma remains a challenging cancer. Over the past year, there have been 3 agents approved for treatment of melanoma by Food and Drug Administration. These include pegylated interferon alpha-2b for stage III melanoma, vemurafenib for unresectable or metastatic melanoma with BRAF V600E mutation, and ipilimumab for treatment of unresectable or metastatic melanoma. This review...

Cancer and dendritic cells recognize and migrate toward chemokines secreted from lymphatics and use this mechanism to invade the lymphatic system, and cancer cells metastasize through it. The lymphatic-secreted chemokine ligand CCL21 has been identified as a key regulatory molecule in the switch to a metastatic phenotype in melanoma and breast cancer cells. However, it is not known whether CCL2...

PURPOSE To assess the expression of PD-L1 on human uveal melanomas and its potential to suppress T-cell function. METHODS A panel of primary and metastatic uveal melanoma cell lines was evaluated for PD-L1 expression by RT-PCR and flow cytometric analysis. Uveal melanoma-containing eyes were examined for PD-L1 expression by immunohistochemistry. PD-L1 function was tested by coculturing IFN-ga...

The metastasis of malignant tumor cells from the primary tumor to distant sites in the body is a complex process. To identify genes that may be essential for metastasis, we established poorly metastatic mouse melanoma cells, namely Y925F-mutated FAK-transfected cells (Y925F cells), from the highly metastatic mouse melanoma cell line B16F10, and performed expression analyses. The expression of p...

Cultivation of human melanocytes requires several growth factors for cell proliferation. For example, basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is an essential growth agent for melanocyte proliferation in vitro and has been proposed to be an autocrine growth factor in human melanoma cells. Studies using either anti-bFGF antibodies or antisense oligonucleotides partially inhibited the proliferation ...

PURPOSE To assess the safety and efficacy of dendritic cell vaccination in metastatic uveal melanoma. DESIGN Interventional case series. METHODS We analyzed 14 patients with metastatic uveal melanoma treated with dendritic cell vaccination. Patients with metastatic uveal melanoma received at least 3 vaccinations with autologous dendritic cells, professional antigen-presenting cells loaded w...

Malignant melanoma is known for its protean cytomorphological features, architectural patterns, and stromal changes, in addition to its ability to mimic various benign and malignant non-melanocytic tumours. Anecdotal cases of metastatic malignant melanoma simulating soft tissue sarcomas have been reported. Interestingly, this mimicry is more often seen in recurrent lesions and metastatic deposi...