Molecular mechanisms associated with cutaneous melanoma biology, pathogenesis, and diagnosis

Abstract

Introduction: Melanoma is considered the most lethal skin cancer, with poor prognosis in advanced stages. The 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) Classification classified melanoma in nine different subgroups depending on the cumulative sun damage, with its respective genetic alterations, which are necessary to investigate for targeted therapies. Nevertheless, the epigenetic alterations aren’t included at all in the new molecular classification. Understanding the molecular mechanisms associated with melanoma pathogenesis and its poor prognosis.

Methods: To analyze the molecular mechanisms implicated in melanoma carcinogenesis, we reviewed the most recent papers using PubMed database and Google Scholar, the search was carried out using the following medical subject headings (MeSH) in the search engine: “melanoma epigenetic mechanisms”, “miRNAs and melanoma”, immunology and melanoma”, “melanoma pathogenesis”, in combination with boolean connectors ‘AND’ and ‘OR’. A total of 83 articles were reviewed, published between 2000 and 2022.

Conclusion: Given the importance of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms implicated in prognosis and progression of cancer, this paper aims to review the literature about its respective regulators, and how they have a relationship between them in several metabolic, apoptotic, physiological, and biological processes. It is essential to understand the molecular and immunological mechanisms involved in melanoma pathogenesis and how the alteration of any of them leads to the genesis of cancer, with the aim of fostering the development of novel targeted therapy strategies.