scholarly journals Cutaneous Melanoma Classification: The Importance of High-Throughput Genomic Technologies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristian Scatena ◽  
Daniela Murtas ◽  
Sara Tomei

Cutaneous melanoma is an aggressive tumor responsible for 90% of mortality related to skin cancer. In the recent years, the discovery of driving mutations in melanoma has led to better treatment approaches. The last decade has seen a genomic revolution in the field of cancer. Such genomic revolution has led to the production of an unprecedented mole of data. High-throughput genomic technologies have facilitated the genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic profiling of several cancers, including melanoma. Nevertheless, there are a number of newer genomic technologies that have not yet been employed in large studies. In this article we describe the current classification of cutaneous melanoma, we review the current knowledge of the main genetic alterations of cutaneous melanoma and their related impact on targeted therapies, and we describe the most recent high-throughput genomic technologies, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. We hope that the current review will also help scientists to identify the most suitable technology to address melanoma-related relevant questions. The translation of this knowledge and all actual advancements into the clinical practice will be helpful in better defining the different molecular subsets of melanoma patients and provide new tools to address relevant questions on disease management. Genomic technologies might indeed allow to better predict the biological - and, subsequently, clinical - behavior for each subset of melanoma patients as well as to even identify all molecular changes in tumor cell populations during disease evolution toward a real achievement of a personalized medicine.

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Levente Szalárdy ◽  
Dénes Zádori ◽  
Péter Klivényi ◽  
József Toldi ◽  
László Vécsei

Impaired function of certain mitochondrial respiratory complexes has long been linked to the pathogenesis of chronic neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases. Furthermore, genetic alterations of mitochondrial genome or nuclear genes encoding proteins playing essential roles in maintaining proper mitochondrial function can lead to the development of severe systemic diseases associated with neurodegeneration and vacuolar myelinopathy. At present, all of these diseases lack effective disease modifying therapy. Following a brief commemoration of Professor Albert Szent-Györgyi, a Nobel Prize laureate who pioneered in the field of cellular respiration, antioxidant processes, and the roles of free radicals in health and disease, the present paper overviews the current knowledge on the involvement of mitochondrial dysfunction in central nervous system diseases associated with neurodegeneration including Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease as well as mitochondrial encephalopathies. The review puts special focus on the involvement and the potential therapeutic relevance of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1-alpha (PGC-1α), a nuclear-encoded master regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis and antioxidant responses in these disorders, the transcriptional activation of which may hold novel therapeutic value as a more system-based approach aiming to restore mitochondrial functions in neurodegenerative processes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-Shuan Sheen ◽  
Yi-Hua Liao ◽  
Jau-Yu Liau ◽  
Ming-Hsien Lin ◽  
Yi-Chun Hsieh ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e21516-e21516
Author(s):  
Jiuhong Wang ◽  
Jingjing Li ◽  
Xing Liu ◽  
Xizhi Wen ◽  
Dandan Li ◽  
...  

e21516 Background: The clinical efficacy of PD-1 inhibitors as an adjuvant treatment for Asian melanoma patients has not yet been determined. Methods: Thus, this single-centre, retrospective study analysed the clinical data of 90 Chinese patients with completely resected, stage III cutaneous or acral melanoma who received either adjuvant PD-1 inhibitor or high-dose interferon α-2b (HDI). Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to control baseline differences between the two treatment groups. The primary end point was recurrence-free survival (RFS), and the secondary end points included distance metastasis-free survival (DMFS) and incidence of first distant metastatic sites. Results: Anti-PD-1 treatment resulted in significantly longer RFS (18-month RFS, 53.3% versus 26.7%; 95% CI, 0.097-0.975; P < 0.05) and DMFS (18-month DMFS, 70.9% versus 46.1%; 95% CI, 0.13-0.945; P < 0.05) than HDI in cutaneous melanoma patients. However, adjuvant anti-PD-1 treatment had no advantage over HDI in acral melanoma patients (18-month RFS, 30.0% versus 35.9%; P > 0.05; 18-month DMFS, 36.5% versus 63.6%; P > 0.05). The incidence of lung metastasis at first in the anti-PD-1 group was found to be significantly lower (12.5% versus 48.5%; P < 0.05) in cutaneous melanoma patients than in acral melanoma patients, but no difference in metastatic sites were observed between the two treatment groups among acral melanoma patients. The incidence of treatment-related AEs was similar between the two treatment groups. Conclusions: In conclusion, adjuvant anti-PD-1 treatment was well tolerated and yielded a significantly better prognosis than HDI in Chinese patients with stage IIIB/C cutaneous melanoma, but a significant difference was not observed in those with acral melanoma.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. v14-v15
Author(s):  
G.V.B. Gomez ◽  
L.M.O. Monteiro ◽  
R.S. Rocha ◽  
G.J. Lourenço ◽  
C.S.P. Lima

Antioxidants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1942
Author(s):  
Stefania Pizzimenti ◽  
Simone Ribero ◽  
Marie Angele Cucci ◽  
Margherita Grattarola ◽  
Chiara Monge ◽  
...  

Melanoma is a highly aggressive cancer with the poorest prognosis, representing the deadliest form of skin cancer. Activating mutations in BRAF are the most frequent genetic alterations, present in approximately 50% of all melanoma cases. The use of specific inhibitors towards mutant BRAF variants and MEK, a downstream signaling target of BRAF in the MAPK pathway, has significantly improved progression-free and overall survival in advanced melanoma patients carrying BRAF mutations. Nevertheless, despite these improvements, resistance still develops within the first year of therapy in around 50% of patients, which is a significant problem in managing BRAF-mutated advanced melanoma. Understanding these mechanisms is one of the mainstreams of the research on BRAFi/MEKi acquired resistance. Both genetic and epigenetic mechanisms have been described. Moreover, in recent years, oxidative stress has emerged as another major force involved in all the phases of melanoma development, from initiation to progression until the onsets of the metastatic phenotype and chemoresistance, and has thus become a target for therapy. In the present review, we discuss the current knowledge on oxidative stress and its signaling in melanoma, as well as the oxidative stress-related mechanisms in the acquired resistance to targeted therapies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1378-1387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Si-Hyung Lee ◽  
Jee Eun Kim ◽  
Hong Sun Jang ◽  
Kyu Hyun Park ◽  
Byung Ho Oh ◽  
...  

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 4289
Author(s):  
Luca G. Campana ◽  
Barbara Peric ◽  
Matteo Mascherini ◽  
Romina Spina ◽  
Christian Kunte ◽  
...  

Electrochemotherapy (ECT) is an effective locoregional therapy for cutaneous melanoma metastases and has been safely combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors in preliminary experiences. Since ECT is known to induce immunogenic cell death, its combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors might be beneficial. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of ECT on cutaneous melanoma metastases in combination with pembrolizumab. We undertook a retrospective matched cohort analysis of stage IIIC–IV melanoma patients, included in the International Network for sharing practices of ECT (InspECT) and the Slovenian Cancer Registry. We compared the outcome of patients who received the following treatments: (a) pembrolizumab alone, (b) pembrolizumab plus ECT, and (c) ECT. The groups were matched for age, sex, performance status, and size of skin metastases. The local objective response rate (ORR) was higher in the pembrolizumab-ECT group than in the pembrolizumab group (78% and 39%, p < 0.001). The 1 year local progression-free survival (LPFS) rates were 86% and 51% (p < 0.001), and the 1 year systemic PFS rates were 64% and 39%, respectively (p = 0.034). The 1 year overall survival (OS) rates were 88% and 64%, respectively (p = 0.006). Our results suggest that skin-directed therapy with ECT improves superficial tumor control in melanoma patients treated with pembrolizumab. Interestingly, we observed longer PFS and OS in the pembrolizumab-ECT group than in the pembrolizumab group. These findings warrant prospective confirmation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. R415-R439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carles Zafon ◽  
Joan Gil ◽  
Beatriz Pérez-González ◽  
Mireia Jordà

In recent years, cancer genomics has provided new insights into genetic alterations and signaling pathways involved in thyroid cancer. However, the picture of the molecular landscape is not yet complete. DNA methylation, the most widely studied epigenetic mechanism, is altered in thyroid cancer. Recent technological advances have allowed the identification of novel differentially methylated regions, methylation signatures and potential biomarkers. However, despite recent progress in cataloging methylation alterations in thyroid cancer, many questions remain unanswered. The aim of this review is to comprehensively examine the current knowledge on DNA methylation in thyroid cancer and discuss its potential clinical applications. After providing a general overview of DNA methylation and its dysregulation in cancer, we carefully describe the aberrant methylation changes in thyroid cancer and relate them to methylation patterns, global hypomethylation and gene-specific alterations. We hope this review helps to accelerate the use of the diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic potential of DNA methylation for the benefit of thyroid cancer patients.


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