Noninvasive or minimally invasive prediction of tumor metastatic potential would facilitate individualized cancer management. Studies were performed on a panel of human melanoma xenografts that spanned the full range of metastatic potential measured by an in vivo lung colony assay and an in vitro membrane invasion culture system. Three imaging methods potentially transferable to the clinic [dyn...

In recent years, considerable advances have been made in the characterization of protein-coding alterations involved in the pathogenesis of melanoma. However, despite their growing implication in cancer, little is known about the role of long noncoding RNAs in melanoma progression. We hypothesized that copy number alterations (CNAs) of intergenic nonprotein-coding domains could help identify lo...

Melanoma is one of the most malignant forms of skin cancer; with a rapidly increasing prevalence. Early-stage melanoma is curable, but advanced metastatic melanoma is almost always fatal, and patients with such advanced disease have short median survival. Surgery and radiotherapy play a limited role in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. Rather, chemotherapy remains the mainstay of treatment,...

Human melanoma contains multipotent stem cells that express the neural crest stem cell marker CD271. CD271-expressing melanoma cells in murine xenografts give rise to metastatic tumor. However, a comprehensive clinical investigation of its role in different stages of melanomagenesis has not been well studied. We studied CD271 expression with immunohistochemistry in 11 cases of banal melanocytic...

Background: P53 tumor suppressor gene mutation is one of the most common genetic alterations in human malignancies. The mutated from of the gene is stable and can be detected with immunohistochemistry methods. There is much controversy about the expression rate of this gene in malignant melanoma. Objective: To determine the frequency of the P53 antigen expression by sex, age, type and thickness...

The authors analyzed butyrylcholinesterase status in melanocytic pathology and possible association of enzyme activity with melanoma diagnose and progression. Butyrylcholinesterase activity showed no changes between melanoma and dysplastic nevi, between melanoma and control, between nevi and control, but it had a statistically significant variation between primary and metastatic melanoma. Butyr...

BACKGROUND Uveal melanoma is the most common malignancy of the adult eye. The overall mortality rate is high because this aggressive cancer often metastasizes before ophthalmic diagnosis. Quantitative proteomic analysis of primary metastasizing and non-metastasizing tumors was pursued for insights into mechanisms and biomarkers of uveal melanoma metastasis. METHODS Eight metastatic and 7 non-...

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...

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...