Uveal melanoma is an aggressive cancer that metastasizes to the liver in about half of the patients, with a high lethality rate. Identification of patients at high risk of metastases may provide indication for a frequent follow-up for early detection of metastases and treatment. The analysis of the gene expression profiles of primary human uveal melanomas showed high expression of SDCBP gene (e...

BACKGROUND S-phase kinase protein 2 (Skp2), an F-box protein, targets cell cycle regulators via ubiquitin-mediated degradation. Skp2 is frequently overexpressed in a variety of cancers and associated with patient survival. In melanoma, however, the prognostic significance of subcellular Skp2 expression remains controversial. METHODS To investigate the role of Skp2 in melanoma development, we ...

Melanoma has the highest mortality of all the skin cancer subtypes. Historically, chemotherapy and immunologic therapies have yielded only modest results in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. The discovery of prevalent V600 BRAF mutations driving proliferation makes this oncogenic protein an ideal target for therapy. Dabrafenib, a reversible inhibitor of mutant BRAF kinase, improved response...

Vemurafenib is a selective inhibitor of V600E-mutant BRAF protein used to treat metastatic and unresectable melanoma. Clinical trials have shown increased overall survival and progression-free survival in patients treated with Vemurafenib. However, cutaneous adverse events are common during treatment. We report fi ve cases of metastatic melanoma with BRAF V600E positivity, treated with Vemurafe...

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, primarily due to its high metastatic propensity and therapeutic resistance in advanced stages. The frequent inactivation p53 tumour suppressor protein melanomagenesis may predict promising outcomes for activators melanoma therapy. Herein, we aimed investigate antitumor potential p53-activating agent SLMP53-2 against melanoma. Two- three-dimensional...

The fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) is lacking or mutated in patients with the fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most frequent form of inherited intellectual disability. FMRP affects metastasis formation in a mouse model for breast cancer. Here we show that FMRP is overexpressed in human melanoma with high Breslow thickness and high Clark level. Furthermore, meta-analysis of the TCGA me...

Metastatic cancer cells are characterized by their ability to degrade and invade through extracellular matrix. We previously showed that the Tks adaptor proteins, Tks4 and Tks5, are required for invadopodia formation and/or function in Src-transformed fibroblasts and a number of human cancer cell types. In this study, we investigated the role of Tks adaptor proteins in melanoma cell invasion an...

UV radiation has been shown to play a role in the initiation of human cutaneous melanoma, but its role in the development of malignant melanoma to the metastatic state is not very well defined. Although previous studies have concentrated on the effect of UV-B on the host immune response, the effect of UV-B on the tumor cells was not elucidated. Here we show that UV-B can induce interleukin 8 (I...

Globally, malignant melanoma shows a steady increase in the incidence among cancer diseases. Malignant melanoma represents a cancer type where currently no biomarker or diagnostics is available to identify disease stage, progression of disease or personalized medicine treatment. The aim of this study was to assess the tissue expression of alpha-synuclein, a protein implicated in several disease...

The metastasis suppressor, BRMS1, has been demonstrated to cause dramatic regression of metastatic lesions without blocking orthotopic tumor growth. The role of BRMS1 is well-documented for several non-melanoma malignancies, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer and non-small-cell lung cancer. However, its role in melanoma is just beginning to be understood, with a recent article by Slipicevic ...