The state of melanoma: challenges and opportunities

Glenn Merlino; Meenhard Herlyn; David E Fisher; Boris C Bastian; Keith T Flaherty; Michael A Davies; Jennifer A Wargo; Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski; Michael J Weber; Sancy A Leachman; Maria S Soengas; Martin McMahon; J William Harbour; Susan M Swetter; Andrew E Aplin; Michael B Atkins; Marcus W Bosenberg; Reinhard Dummer; Jeffrey E Gershenwald; Allan C Halpern; Dorothee Herlyn; Giorgos C Karakousis; John M Kirkwood; Michael Krauthammer; Roger S Lo; Georgina V Long; Grant McArthur; Antoni Ribas; Lynn Schuchter; Jeffrey A Sosman; Keiran S Smalley; Patricia Steeg; Nancy E Thomas; Hensin Tsao; Thomas Tueting; Ashani Weeraratna; George Xu; Randy Lomax; Alison Martin; Steve Silverstein; Tim Turnham; Ze'ev A Ronai

doi:10.1111/pcmr.12475

The state of melanoma: challenges and opportunities

Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2016 Jul;29(4):404-16. doi: 10.1111/pcmr.12475. Epub 2016 Apr 17.

Authors

Glenn Merlino¹, Meenhard Herlyn², David E Fisher³, Boris C Bastian⁴, Keith T Flaherty⁵, Michael A Davies⁶, Jennifer A Wargo⁶, Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski⁷, Michael J Weber⁸, Sancy A Leachman⁹, Maria S Soengas¹⁰, Martin McMahon¹¹, J William Harbour¹², Susan M Swetter¹³, Andrew E Aplin¹⁴, Michael B Atkins¹⁵, Marcus W Bosenberg¹⁶, Reinhard Dummer¹⁷, Jeffrey E Gershenwald⁶, Allan C Halpern¹⁸, Dorothee Herlyn², Giorgos C Karakousis¹⁹, John M Kirkwood²⁰, Michael Krauthammer²¹, Roger S Lo²², Georgina V Long²³, Grant McArthur²⁴, Antoni Ribas²², Lynn Schuchter¹⁹, Jeffrey A Sosman²⁵, Keiran S Smalley²⁶, Patricia Steeg²⁷, Nancy E Thomas²⁸, Hensin Tsao²⁹, Thomas Tueting³⁰, Ashani Weeraratna², George Xu¹⁹, Randy Lomax³¹, Alison Martin³¹, Steve Silverstein³¹, Tim Turnham³¹, Ze'ev A Ronai³²

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
² Melanoma Research Center, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
³ Department of Dermatology, Cutaneous Biology Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA.
⁴ Departments of Dermatology and Pathology, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
⁵ Developmental Therapeutics, Cancer Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA.
⁶ Department of Genomic Medicine and Surgical Oncology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
⁷ Departments of Medicine and Dermatology, University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ, USA.
⁸ Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
⁹ Department of Dermatology, Knight Cancer Institute Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program, Oregon Health Science University, Portland, OR, USA.
¹⁰ Molecular Oncology Program, Melanoma Laboratory, CNIO, Madrid, Spain.
¹¹ Department of Dermatology, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹² Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA.
¹³ Department of Dermatology, Stanford University Medical Center and Cancer Institute/VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
¹⁴ Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
¹⁵ Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Dermatology and Dermatopathology, Cancer Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Dermatology, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland.
¹⁸ Dermatology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA.
¹⁹ Abramson Cancer Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
²⁰ Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
²¹ Department of Pathology, Cancer Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
²² Department of Medical Oncology and Dermatology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
²³ Melanoma Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
²⁴ Department of Cancer Medicine, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne, Vic., Australia.
²⁵ Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical School, Nashville, TN, USA.
²⁶ Department of Tumor Biology, The Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA.
²⁷ Women Malignancies Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
²⁸ Melanoma Program, Department of Dermatology, Lineberger Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
²⁹ Melanoma and Pigmented Lesion Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA.
³⁰ Department of Dermatology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
³¹ Melanoma Research Foundation, Washington, DC, USA.
³² Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program, Cancer Center, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.

Abstract

The Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) has charted a comprehensive assessment of the current state of melanoma research and care. Intensive discussions among members of the MRF Scientific Advisory Council and Breakthrough Consortium, a group that included clinicians and scientists, focused on four thematic areas - diagnosis/early detection, prevention, tumor cell dormancy (including metastasis), and therapy (response and resistance). These discussions extended over the course of 2015 and culminated at the Society of Melanoma Research 2015 International Congress in November. Each of the four groups has outlined their thoughts as per the current status, challenges, and opportunities in the four respective areas. The current state and immediate and long-term needs of the melanoma field, from basic research to clinical management, are presented in the following report.

Keywords: dormancy; early diagnosis; melanoma; metastasis; prevention; therapy.

MeSH terms

Biomedical Research*
Humans
Melanoma / diagnosis*
Melanoma / therapy*
Signal Transduction
Societies, Scientific

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding