Moving toward personalized medicine for melanoma

Source: Dermatology Times, Jnauary 2016

Dermatologists have long known that the majority of melanomas arising from the skin  are associated with exposure to ultraviolet light, but a presentation at the summer meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (August 2015, New York) allowed clinicians to deepen their knowledge, and provided a framework on the current understanding of the disease.

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“We have long known that cutaneous melanoma is different from other forms, such as those that arise from the acral sites, uveal tract or the mucous membranes. One study found 171 mutations per sun-exposed tumor, compared with nine mutations per sun-shielded tumor,” says Julide Tok Celebi, M.D., professor in the departments of dermatology and pathology at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York.

Scientists have recently learned that cutaneous melanoma has the highest mutational load among all cancers.