前沿科技及其它

The role of the tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) and its relationship to prognosis has been most extensively studied in malignant melanoma. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss in depth the immunobiology and molecular aspects of lymphocyte function in general and particularly ...

Melanoma has a propensity for lymph node metastasis. However, the incidence of lymphatic invasion detected by histology alone in primary melanoma is disproportionately low in comparison to the incidence of positive sentinel lymph nodes (SLN). With the discovery of lymphatic endothe ...

Recent studies in our laboratory have identified novel molecular diagnostic and prognostic markers based on analyses in large cohorts of melanoma patients. These markers were initially derived from gene expression profiling analyses of distinct stages of melanoma progression. ...

The outcome of Stage II melanoma is uncertain. Despite that 10-year melanoma-specific survival can approach 50 % following curative-intent wide local excision and negative sentinel lymph node biopsy, the adverse risk–benefit ratio of interferon-based adjuvant regimens preclu ...

The majority of melanocytic neoplasms can be correctly diagnosed using routine histopathologic analysis. However, a significant minority of tumors have ambiguous histopathologic attributes that overlap between melanocytic nevi and melanoma. Ancillary tests that assist ...

Melanoma is the most life-threatening common form of skin cancer. While most cutaneous melanomas are cured by surgical resection, a minority will relapse locally, regionally, or distantly. Biomarkers have represented a focal point for research aimed at improving diagnostic accuracy ...

For many years, melanoma has been regarded as a single disease in terms of therapeutic considerations. The more recent identification of multiple molecular mechanisms underlying the development, progression, and prognosis of melanoma has led to a new paradigm for the management of this d ...

The BrafV600E mutation has been detected in patients with metastatic melanoma, colon, thyroid, and other cancers. Studies suggested that tumors with this mutation are especially sensitive to BRAF inhibitors-hence the need to reliably determine the BRAF status of tumor specimens. The p ...

Melanoma is a heterogeneous disease for which monotherapies are likely to fail in the majority of patients due to genomic variations between individuals. Novel treatments, such as vemurafenib and ipilimumab, offer clinical promise in metastatic melanoma and the increased potenti ...

Therapeutic strategies that block Cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) enhance antitumor immunity and prolong the lives of patients with metastatic melanoma. However, only a subset of patients benefit, and responses are often delayed due to heterogeneous response kinetics. ...

Cancer vaccines are designed to activate an immune response to tumor-specific or tumor-associated antigens expressed by the tumor. Cancer vaccines take many forms, including synthetic peptides, tumor cells and lysates, cell lines, and autologous antigen presenting cells like den ...

Melanoma is the third most common skin cancer but accounts for the majority of skin cancer-related mortality. The rapidly rising incidence and younger age at diagnosis has made melanoma a leading cause of lost productive years of life and has increased the urgency of finding improved adjuvant t ...

V600BRAF mutation was identified as an ideal target for clinical therapy due to its indispensable roles in supporting melanoma initiation and progression. Despite the fact that BRAF inhibitors (BRAFi) can elicit anti-tumor responses in the majority of treated patients and confer ove ...

Personalized melanoma medicine has progressed from histopathologic features to serum markers to molecular profiles. Since the identification of activating BRAF mutations and subsequent development of drugs targeting the mutant BRAF protein, oncologists now need to incorp ...

The standard of care of patients with malignant melanoma is dramatically changing, hallmarked by the approval of three new agents for the treatment of malignant melanoma in 2011. In this changing therapeutic landscape, several clinical issues are emerging which will best be addressed th ...

Melanoma is a main example of how applying advances in basic biology, pharmacology, and molecular diagnostics into the clinic results in unprecedented benefits to patients. After many years of lack of advances in the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma, the advent of new therapi ...

The growth of new blood vessels, known as angiogenesis, is a dynamic but highly regulated process involving many different regulatory pathways. Endothelial cell migration and proliferation is also essential for this process to occur. Studying the behavior of endothelial cells and how t ...

Neoadjuvant therapy is therapy administered before surgical intervention and while the tumor remains in the breast. It may be given to treat large, locally advanced tumors, with the aim of shrinking them and thus making their surgical excision either simply possible or less radical. Most neo ...

If breast cancer patients are not cured, it is largely because of the fact that the cancer has spread beyond its primary site—the breast—to distant sites, such as, e.g., bone marrow, lung, brain, and/or liver. These secondary tumors are called metastases, and the underlying mechanisms leading to these ...

The aim of our lab is to understand the contributions made by cell adhesion molecules in the processes of disease. Much of our recent work has focused on the role played by β3-integrin in mediating pathological angiogenesis. It is fair to state that without the ability to manipulate the mouse genome, and ...