Melanoma is an increasingly important public health problem. Although the cause of most malignant melanomas – over-exposure to ultraviolet light – is well known, effective treatment has remained challenging. The past several years have been marked by extraordinary developments in melanoma treatment in the arena of targeted therapeutics. This book describes these ground-breaking discoveries and their implications for clinical use. As melanoma biology is increasingly understood, so the development of targeted therapies for this disease is spurred ahead. This book covers both established signal transduction inhibitors and the fascinating emerging realm of molecularly-guided immunotherapies. This benchmark book provides the most up-to-date information on the new breed of melanoma therapies. Composed of the works of major researchers and clinicians, this book offers new insights, novel approaches, and promising data for effective treatment planning. Illuminating the latest advances in the field, it is a solid resource for clinical oncologists, translational scientists, and basic cancer researchers.

Strategies of treatment involving therapeutic proteins, irnrnune immune cells, or cel lular protein targets are those of greatest potential for further reducing mortality from melanoma. Therapeutic proteins or cells may inhibit melanoma cell growth either by augmentation of immune cell function or by inhibition of angiogenesis. Cytokines and melanoma antigens may be used either in vivo as a vaccine to stimulate irnrnune immune cell cell function or ex vivo to stimulate or proliferate cells for infusion. Alternatively, alteration in melanoma cell growth can occur through inhibition of protein signal transduction pathways within melanoma cells or in the endothelial cells constituting the necessary angiogenic support for tumor growth. The great promise of these therapies and their cellular targets constitutes the basis for Melanoma: Biologically Targeted Therapeutics. THE CLINlCAL PROBLEM More than four million people will be diagnosed with melanoma in the first decade of the 21st century. Half of those who will die will be individuals who would otherwise have had a life expectancy of another 25 years or more. These individuals will die of systemic systernic metastases, which are present at the time of primary surgery. Despite use of sunscreens, incidence continues to increase in developed countries worldwide. To reduce mortality, there must continue to be a focus on prevention and earlier detection through public education. Early interventions are always preferable to treatment of disseminated metastatic disease.

Emerging Cancer Therapeutics is a trinary hard cover periodical that is designed to provide an up-to-date evidence-based review of a dedicated emerging cancer therapy topic of interest to clinicians and scientists involved in the care of patients receiving cancer treatment. It will serve as both a reference and instructional tool for students, housestaff, fellows, practicing clinical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists, cancer biologists, and interdisciplinary colleagues throughout the oncology spectrum. With contributions from nationally recognized experts representing the fields of dermatology, dermatologic surgery, surgical oncology, dermatopathology, and medical oncology, Melanoma includes chapters on prevention, changes in melanoma staging, the evolving role of established surgical therapies, single-agent specific V600E mutant inhibitors, target therapy for patients without BRAF mutations, new treatments for metastatic melanoma-including ipilimumab and vemurafenib-and more.

Malignant melanoma is the most aggressive type of skin cancer with invasive growth patterns. Recent advances in melanoma management have focused on cell growth, proliferation, migration, and survival biomarkers. Numerous FDA-approved molecular-targeted therapies, such as tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), have been developed targeting genetic biomarkers that play a critical role in tumorigenesis when overexpressed. The use of targeted therapies as an alternative or adjuvant to immunotherapy has revolutionized the management of metastatic melanoma. Although this treatment strategy is more efficacious and less toxic than traditional therapies, targeted therapies are less effective after prolonged treatment due to acquired resistance given the mutations and activation of resistant mechanisms in melanoma tumors. In this sense, identifying novel target therapies and repositioned drugs that could modulate the disease progression, the potential molecular and pharmacological mechanisms of therapies are of utmost interest.

Melanoma is one of the most types of cancer. When melanoma is detected at an early stage, treatment is highly successful, but outcomes can be poor when the disease is advanced. There has been significant progress in our understanding of the molecular biology, genetics, and immunology of melanoma over the past decade. This has been accompanied by rapid advances in therapeutic strategies for patients with melanoma. This book provides the clinician and the researcher with a broad understanding of the molecular and cellular pathogenesis of melanoma, explores the clinical characteristics and criteria for clinical and pathological staging of the disease, and provides an overview of current and evolving treatment strategies in the adjuvant, metastatic, and preventive settings. The treatment of special populations and rare variants of melanoma that often present particular clinical challenges is also covered. Authored by international experts in melanoma biology and clinical management, this volume concisely explains how to diagnose, treat, and prevent melanoma while reviewing advances in basic science and providing an overview of innovative approaches still under development.

​This volume contains a collection of writings from the leaders in the fields of Molecular Biology and Melanoma Research which will begin to tell the ever-expanding story of the most recent findings, discoveries, and potential of BRAF-directed targets in melanoma. Recent research has shown that BRAF inhibitors are effective for a short period of time, but there is little hope that this drugs as single agents will lead to durable benefit in a majority of patients. Among scientists and researchers who work in drug discovery, there is a lot of interest in the development of molecularly targeted cancer agents. Namely, the identification of a molecular target, the selection of molecules which effectively inhibit this target. What is starkly different about the development of this class of compounds, however, is that the mechanism of action of these agents are not as straightforward as was once previously assumed and the mechanisms of resistance that tumor cells employ to evade complete destruction are unlike any that have been described before. These discoveries in addition to utilization of modern molecular biology techniques have led to a series of hypotheses regarding which other types of molecules could be used in combination with BRAF-inhibitors in hopes of revolutionizing the potential of therapeutics in melanoma.