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Histone deacetylase inhibitors are potent inducers of growth arrest and apoptotic cell death and are currently in clinical studies for solid tumors. In addition, recent studies from our own group provide evidence for an anti-inflammatory potency of HDACi in vitro and in vivo by using various ...

Selective delivery of drugs or imaging dyes to tumor is the central challenge for improving existing therapy and diagnosis of cancer. Phage display of random peptides has been used to identify homing peptides that are specific to tumor cells or tumor blood vessels. These homing peptides can be co ...

Melanoma of the skin is one of the most rapidly increasing malignancies in both young and old patients (1,2). Not only is the incidence increasing, but the number of annual deaths from melanoma is also on the rise worldwide (3). In the United States, melanoma will be diagnosed in 43,000 new patients each year a ...

In the last decade, many antigens expressed by tumors and recognized by the immune system have been identified. Melanoma was among the first tumors found to express such tumor-associated antigens, and, therefore, melanoma is currently one of the best and extensively studied tumors for which n ...

The multistep genetic alterations thought to involve both oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes that are causally related to melanocytic transformation remain largely undetermined (1). Mapping of alterations to chromosome 6 indicates that multiple genetic loci on 6q contribute ...

The development of melanoma and its precursor lesions has been associated with intense intermittent sun exposure and the deleterious effects of ultraviolet (UV) light (1). This is supported by epidemiologic data as well as several animal models in which melanoma could be induced or promot ...

For nearly 100 yr physicians and scientists have appreciated the carcinogenic potential of the ultraviolet (UV) radiation present in sunlight 0(1,2). During the latter part of the twentieth century, immunologists and dermatologists realized that UV radiation suppressed the immune ...

The use of antisense oligonucleotides as both research tools and therapeutic molecules has emerged as a powerful alternative to small molecule inhibitors. Antisense oligonucleotides are short pieces of chemically modified DNA designed to hybridize to specific mRNA sequences p ...

Structural and numerical chromosomal abnormalities have been observed in all types of malignancies. These events are associated with neoplastic pathogenesis and progression (1). For a long time, conventional cytogenetics analysis was the prevalent approach in assessing chro ...

The first description of familial melanoma in the English literature appeared in 1820, when Norris (1) reported: It is remarkable that this gentleman’s father, about thirty years ago, died of a similar disease.... This tumour, I have remarked, originated in a mole, and it is worth mentioning, that not on ...

Cutaneous melanoma is the most rapidly increasing malignancy in the white European population; its clinical significance is enhanced because it can affect younger individuals (1–3). The high mortality rate among melanoma patients, second to lung cancer, is related to melanoma’s resi ...

Identification of alterations in gene expression is an important step in understanding the development and progression of human disease. For pigmentary disorders with an unresolved hereditary component, genetic and epigenetic changes that alter the expression of genes as a direct ...

Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent antigen-presenting cells (1) with wide tissue distribution. They are classified based primarily on their localization: as Langerhans cells when present in the epidermis and as dermal DCs when found in the dermis. DCs exhibit several common features: an irr ...

The identification of genes involved in different biologic functions and in the pathogenesis of diseases has paved the way to the possibility of either interfering with the role of such genes or replacing them in somatic cells in case of loss, which may occur in some genetic diseases or cancer. Such pr ...

A major thrust in the application of gene transfer technology for cancer therapy has been the modulation of the immune response. There has been a veritable explosion of information regarding the components of the immune response that are required to generate a meaningful cellular response ...

Growth of normal cells is regulated by polypeptides that act via specific cellular receptors. Otherwise known as cytokines, these substances include the growth factors that modulate the proliferation of nonimmune cells. Lymphokines or cytokines, on the other hand, are involved in the r ...

The incidence and mortality rates of melanoma increased dramatically from 1973 to 1994, rising 120.5 and 38.9%, respectively (1). From 1990 to 1994, men had higher incidence (17.3/100,000) and mortality rates (3.5/100,000) than women (incidence: 11.6/100,000; mortality: 1.7/100,000) and had m ...

When cutaneous melanoma is confined to the skin, simple excision with adequate margins will usually cure the patient (1,2). Local recurrences do occur but reexcision still results in a very high cure rate. When cutaneous melanoma spreads beyond the primary site, the metastases are predomina ...

Many of the recent advancements in the area of tumor immunobiology have allowed us to focus our efforts on the experimental treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. It has been both a frustrating and often a seemingly futile effort on the parts of physicians and researchers alike in treat ...

The adequate procurement and preservation of high-quality tissue specimens from patients with melanoma is a critical clinical issue as patients’ tumor samples are now used not only for pathological diagnosis but are also necessary to determine the molecular signature of the tumor to str ...