Melanoma metastatic to the appendix is extremely rare. Here we describe a case of a 31-year-old female from Bolivia with a remote history of metastatic malignant melanoma first diagnosed as a cutaneous malignant melanoma ten years prior to this presentation. The patient was being followed for a mucocele which on resection was found to be metastatic melanoma. "Mucocele" is a generic diagnosis th...

Although rare, uveal melanoma is the most common primary intraocular malignant tumor in adults. Over the past 50 years, the incidence in North America has been stable, with 4.3 per million (or about 1,500 cases per year) being newly diagnosed (Sato, Han, & Yamamoto, 2008). Uveal melanoma differs from cutaneous melanoma in a variety of ways, such as primary treatment, metastatic pattern, and ove...

Metastatic pancreatic malignant melanoma is considered to be a highly aggressive neoplasm, and only few metastasectomies for lesions originating from the skin or the ocular region have been reported. We report a case of resection of pancreatic metastasis of malignant melanoma originating from the nasal cavity. An isolated pancreatic tumor was detected in a 46-year-old man who had undergone prot...

Melanoma remains as the deadliest form of skin cancer with limited and inefficient treatment options available for patients with metastatic disease. Within the last decade, the thrombin receptor, Protease Activated Receptor-1, has been described as an essential gene involved in the progression of human melanoma. PAR-1 is known to activate adhesive, invasive and angiogenic factors to promote mel...

Human metastatic melanoma cells express a dedifferentiated, plastic phenotype, which may serve as a selective advantage, because melanoma cells invade various microenvironments. Over the last three decades, there has been an increased focus on the role of the tumor microenvironment in cancer progression, with the goal of reversing the metastatic phenotype. Here, using an embryonic chick model, ...

Metastatic melanoma is well known for its aggressive clinical behavior and therapeutic resistance. The standard systemic therapy has shown limited clinical activity with no significant survival benefit. Melanoma is a molecularly heterogeneous malignancy. Several key genetic lesions governing melanoma initiation and progression have been identified, the most common being a point mutation in the ...

PURPOSE Establish an experimental model of metastatic melanoma primary culture cells from fine-needle aspiration biopsies (FNAB). METHODS Two metastatic melanoma primary culture cells from (FNAB) have been developed from patients who had been submitted to excision of metastatic lesions and they were identified by immunohistochemical analyses using S-100 and MB-45 melanoma markers. RESULTS T...

Epigenetic alterations are increasingly implicated in metastasis, whereas very few genetic mutations have been identified as authentic drivers of cancer metastasis. Yet, to date, few studies have identified metastasis-related epigenetic drivers, in part because a framework for identifying driver epigenetic changes in metastasis has not been established. Using reduced representation bisulfite se...

Malignant melanoma of the gastrointestinal tract is an uncommon neoplasm that could be primary or metastatic. Small intestine represents the most common site for the metastatic melanoma; however, it could be found anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract. Intussusception is a rare cause of intestinal obstruction in adults compared to children. In 90% of the cases, the underlying cause can be foun...