Abstract
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer; it arises due to uncontrolled proliferation of melanocytes. It is most lethal when it progresses into advanced stages and metastatic melanoma is considered as one of the deadliest types of skin cancers. The present chapter is intended to introduce melanoma to the readers. In the beginning of the chapter, basic details of skin structure are described and the various cell types present in the top most layer of skin (epidermis) are presented. The role of melanocytes in pigmentation and the source as well as functions of melanin are described. The chapter then discusses the definition of melanoma and lists some of the prominent public figures who succumbed to melanoma and also the ones who survived melanoma. The history of melanoma including its first descriptions by Greek physicians, earliest available physical evidences, coining of the term melanoma by Sir Robert Carswell, pioneering work done by William Noris, Wallace Clark and Alexander Breslow, and the discovery of BRAF mutations are discussed in this chapter. Next, the epidemiology of melanoma based on data published by American Cancer Society and by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), through its GLOBOCAN 2012 project is discussed; details on global incidence of melanoma, the places with highest melanoma incidence, trends in estimated number of cases in USA between 2012 and 2016, the top 5 states in USA with high melanoma incidence are described and the melanoma incidence in USA is compared between male and female population.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Wickett, R. R. (2006). Structure and function of the epidermal barrier. American Journal of Infection Control, 34, S98–110.
Proksch, E., Brandner, J. M., & Jensen, J. M. (2008). The skin: An indispensable barrier. Experimental Dermatology, 17(12), 1063–1072.
Nichols, S. E., Jr., & Reams, W. M., Jr. (1960). The occurrence and morphogenesis of melanocytes in the connective tissues of the PET/MCV mouse strain. Journal of Embryology and Experimental Morphology, 8, 24–32.
Miller, A. J., & Mihm, M. C., Jr. (2006). Melanoma. The New England Journal of Medicine, 355(1), 51–65. doi:355/1/51 [pii]
Rotte, A., Bhandaru, M., Zhou, Y., & McElwee, K. J. (2015). Immunotherapy of melanoma: present options and future promises. Cancer Metastasis Review, 34(1), 115–128. doi:10.1007/s10555-014-9542-0
Arrangoiz, R., Dorantes, J., Cordera, F., Juarez, M. M., Paquentin, E. M., & L., d. L. E. (2016). Melanoma review: Epidemiology, risk factors, diagnosis and staging. [Review]. Journal of Cancer Treatment and Research, 4(1), 1–15. 10.11648/j.jctr.20160401.11
Garbe, C., Peris, K., Hauschild, A., Saiag, P., Middleton, M., & Spatz, A., et al. (2012). Diagnosis and treatment of melanoma. European consensus-based interdisciplinary guideline–Update 2012. European Journal of Cancer, 48(15), 2375–2390. doi:S0959-8049(12)00516-3 [pii]
Balch, C. M., Gershenwald, J. E., Soong, S. J., Thompson, J. F., Atkins, M. B., & Byrd, D. R., et al. (2009). Final version of 2009 AJCC melanoma staging and classification. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 27(36), 6199–6206. doi:JCO.2009.23.4799 [pii]
Siegel, R., Naishadham, D., & Jemal, A. (2013). Cancer statistics, 2013. CA Cancer Journal of Clinicians, 63(1), 11–30. doi:10.3322/caac.21166
Siegel, R., Ma, J., Zou, Z., & Jemal, A. (2014). Cancer statistics. CA Cancer Journal of Clinicians, 64(1), 9–29. doi:10.3322/caac.21208
Siegel, R. L., Miller, K. D., & Jemal, A. (2015). Cancer statistics, 2015. CA Cancer Journal of Clinicians, 65(1), 5–29. doi:10.3322/caac.21254.
Siegel, R. L., Miller, K. D., & Jemal, A. (2016). Cancer statistics, 2016. CA Cancer Journal of Clinicians, 66(1), 7–30. doi:10.3322/caac.21332.
Alliance, M. R. Celebrity Stories. http://www.curemelanoma.org/about-melanoma/melanoma-stories/celebrity-stories/
Moore, H. (2015). Celebrities with Melanoma or skin cancer. http://www.chicagonow.com/hippy-shakes/2015/08/celebrities-with-melanoma-or-skin-cancer
Mukherjee, S. (Ed.). (2010). The emperor of all maladies: A biography of cancer. New York: Scribner.
Rebecca, V. W., Sondak, V. K., & Smalley, K. S. (2012). A brief history of melanoma: from mummies to mutations. Melanoma Research, 22(2), 114–122. doi:10.1097/CMR.0b013e328351fa4d
Urteaga, O., & Pack, G. T. (1966). On the antiquity of melanoma. Cancer, 19(5), 607–610.
Bodenham, D. C. (1968). A study of 650 observed malignant melanomas in the South-West region. Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 43(4), 218–239.
Laënnec, R. T. H. (1812). Extrait au memoire de M Laennec, sur les melanoses. Paris: Bull L’Ecole Societie de Medicine, 1, 24.
Denkler, K., & Johnson, J. (1999). A lost piece of melanoma history. Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, 104(7), 2149–2153.
Roguin, A. (2006). Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec (1781-1826): the man behind the stethoscope. Clinical Medicine & Research, 4(3), 230–235.
Norris, W. (1820). Case of fungoid disease. Edinburg Medical and Surgery Journal, 16, 562–565.
Fawdington, T. (Ed.). (1826). A case of melanosis, with general observations on the pathology of the interesting disease. London: London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Robinson and Bent.
Parish, I. (1837). Case of melanosis. The American Journal of Medical Sciences, 20, 266.
Gorantla, V. C., & Kirkwood, J. M. (2014). State of melanoma: An historic overview of a field in transition. Hematology Oncology Clinics of North America, 28(3), 415–435. doi:S0889-8588(14)00028-8 [pii]
Carswell, R. (Ed.). (1838). Illustrations of the elementary forms of disease. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Greene and Longman.
Cooper, S. (Ed.). (1840). The first lines of the theory and practice of surgery. London: Longman.
Paget, J. (1853). Lectures on surgical pathology (p. 639). London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longman.
Norris, W. (Ed.). (1857). Eight cases of Melanosis with pathological and therapeutical remarks on that disease: London: Longman.
Pemberton, O. (Ed.). (1858). On melanosis.: London: Churchill.
Balch, C. M. (1981). Measuring melanomas–a tribute to Alexander Breslow. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 5(1), 96–97.
Jhappan, C., Noonan, F. P., & Merlino, G. (2003). Ultraviolet radiation and cutaneous malignant melanoma. Oncogene, 22(20), 3099–3112. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1206450
Mc, G. V. (1952). Melanoblastoma. Medical Journal of Australia, 1(5), 139–142.
Lancaster, H. O. (1956). Some geographical aspects of the mortality from melanoma in Europeans. Medical Journal of Australia, 43(26), 1082–1087.
Lancaster, H. O., & Nelson, J. (1957). Sunlight as a cause of melanoma; a clinical survey. Medical Journal of Australia, 44(14), 452–456.
Thody, A. J., & Graham, A. (1998). Does alpha-MSH have a role in regulating skin pigmentation in humans? Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research, 11(5), 265–274.
Rouzaud, F., Kadekaro, A. L., Abdel-Malek, Z. A., & Hearing, V. J. (2005). MC1R and the response of melanocytes to ultraviolet radiation. Mutat Reserach, 571(1–2), 133–152. doi:S0027-5107(04)00491-9 [pii]
Valverde, P., Healy, E., Jackson, I., Rees, J. L., & Thody, A. J. (1995). Variants of the melanocyte-stimulating hormone receptor gene are associated with red hair and fair skin in humans. Nature Genetics, 11(3), 328–330. doi:10.1038/ng1195-328
Box, N. F., Wyeth, J. R., O’Gorman, L. E., Martin, N. G., & Sturm, R. A. (1997). Characterization of melanocyte stimulating hormone receptor variant alleles in twins with red hair. Human Molecular Genetics, 6(11), 1891–1897. doi:dda242 [pii]
Beaumont, K. A., Newton, R. A., Smit, D. J., Leonard, J. H., Stow, J. L., & Sturm, R. A. (2005). Altered cell surface expression of human MC1R variant receptor alleles associated with red hair and skin cancer risk. Human Molecular Genetics, 14(15), 2145–2154. doi:ddi219 [pii]
Lynch, H. T., & Krush, A. J. (1968). Heredity and malignant melanoma: implications for early cancer detection. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 99(1), 17–21.
Lynch, H. T., Anderson, D. E., & Krush, A. J. (1968). Heredity and intraocular malignant melanoma. Study of two families and review of forty-five cases. Cancer, 21(1), 119–125.
Lynch, H. T., Frichot, B. C., 3rd, & Lynch, J. F. (1978). Familial atypical multiple mole-melanoma syndrome. Journal of Medical Genetics, 15(5), 352–356.
Clark, W. H., Jr., Reimer, R. R., Greene, M., Ainsworth, A. M., & Mastrangelo, M. J. (1978). Origin of familial malignant melanomas from heritable melanocytic lesions. ‘The B-K mole syndrome’. Archieves of Dermatology, 114(5), 732–738.
Cannon-Albright, L. A., Goldgar, D. E., Meyer, L. J., Lewis, C. M., Anderson, D. E., Fountain, J. W., et al. (1992). Assignment of a locus for familial melanoma, MLM, to chromosome 9p13-p22. Science, 258(5085), 1148–1152.
Holland, E. A., Schmid, H., Kefford, R. F., & Mann, G. J. (1999). CDKN2A (P16(INK4a)) and CDK4 mutation analysis in 131 Australian melanoma probands: effect of family history and multiple primary melanomas. Genes Chromosomes Cancer, 25(4), 339–348. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-2264(199908)25:4<339::AID-GCC5>3.0.CO;2-H [pii]
Eckerle Mize, D., Bishop, M., Resse, E., & Sluzevich, J. (2009). Familial a typical multiple mole melanoma syndrome. doi:NBK7030[bookaccession]
Hussussian, C. J., Struewing, J. P., Goldstein, A. M., Higgins, P. A., Ally, D. S., & Sheahan, M. D., et al. (1994). Germline p 16 mutations in familial melanoma. Nature Genetics, 8(1), 15–21. doi:10.1038/ng0994-15
Parada, L. F., & Weinberg, R. A. (1983). Presence of a Kirsten murine sarcoma virus ras oncogene in cells transformed by 3-methylcholanthrene. Molecular and Cellular Biology, 3(12), 2298–2301.
Murray, M. J., Cunningham, J. M., Parada, L. F., Dautry, F., Lebowitz, P., & Weinberg, R. A. (1983). The HL-60 transforming sequence: a ras oncogene coexisting with altered myc genes in hematopoietic tumors. Cell, 33(3), 749–757. doi:0092-8674(83)90017-X [pii]
Malumbres, M., & Barbacid, M. (2003). RAS oncogenes: The first 30 years. Nature Reviews Cancer, 3(6), 459–465. doi:10.1038/nrc1097
Albino, A. P., Le Strange, R., Oliff, A. I., Furth, M. E., & Old, L. J. (1984). Transforming ras genes from human melanoma: a manifestation of tumour heterogeneity? Nature, 308(5954), 69–72.
Padua, R. A., Barrass, N., & Currie, G. A. (1984). A novel transforming gene in a human malignant melanoma cell line. Nature, 311(5987), 671–673.
Rapp, U. R., Goldsborough, M. D., Mark, G. E., Bonner, T. I., Groffen, J., Reynolds, F. H., Jr., et al. (1983). Structure and biological activity of v-raf, a unique oncogene transduced by a retrovirus. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 80(14), 4218–4222.
Huebner, K., ar-Rushdi, A., Griffin, C. A., Isobe, M., Kozak, C., & Emanuel, B. S., et al. (1986). Actively transcribed genes in the raf oncogene group, located on the X chromosome in mouse and human. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 83(11), 3934–3938.
Ikawa, S., Fukui, M., Ueyama, Y., Tamaoki, N., Yamamoto, T., & Toyoshima, K. (1988). B-raf, a new member of the raf family, is activated by DNA rearrangement. Molecular and Cellular of Biology, 8(6), 2651–2654.
Peyssonnaux, C., & Eychene, A. (2001). The Raf/MEK/ERK pathway: New concepts of activation. Biology of the Cell, 93(1–2), 53–62.
Davies, H., Bignell, G. R., Cox, C., Stephens, P., Edkins, S., & Clegg, S., et al. (2002). Mutations of the BRAF gene in human cancer. Nature, 417(6892), 949–954. doi:10.1038/nature00766
Pollock, P. M., Harper, U. L., Hansen, K. S., Yudt, L. M., Stark, M., & Robbins, C. M., et al. (2003). High frequency of BRAF mutations in nevi. Nature Genetics, 33(1), 19–20. doi:10.1038/ng1054
Michaloglou, C., Vredeveld, L. C., Soengas, M. S., Denoyelle, C., Kuilman, T., & van der Horst, C. M., et al. (2005). BRAFE600-associated senescence-like cell cycle arrest of human naevi. Nature, 436(7051), 720–724, doi:nature03890 [pii]
Curtin, J. A., Busam, K., Pinkel, D., & Bastian, B. C. (2006). Somatic activation of KIT in distinct subtypes of melanoma. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 24(26), 4340–4346, doi:JCO.2006.06.2984[pii]
Van Raamsdonk, C. D., Bezrookove, V., Green, G., Bauer, J., Gaugler, L., & O’Brien, J. M., et al. (2009). Frequent somatic mutations of GNAQ in uveal melanoma and blue naevi. Nature, 457(7229), 599–602. doi:nature07586 [pii]
Torre, L. A., Bray, F., Siegel, R. L., Ferlay, J., Lortet-Tieulent, J., & Jemal, A. (2015). Global cancer statistics, 2012. CA Cancer Journal of Clinicians, 65(2), 87–108. doi:10.3322/caac.21262
MacKie, R. M., Hauschild, A., & Eggermont, A. M. (2009). Epidemiology of invasive cutaneous melanoma. Annals of Oncology, 20 Suppl 6, vi1-7, doi:mdp252[pii]/annonc/mdp252
Erdei, E., & Torres, S. M. (2010). A new understanding in the epidemiology of melanoma. Expert Rev Anticancer Ther, 10(11), 1811–1823, doi:10.1586/era.10.170
Forman, D. F. B., Brewster, D. H., Gombe Mbalawa, C., Kohler, B., Piñeros, M., Steliarova-Foucher, E., Swaminathan, R., Ferlay, J., et al. (2014). Cancer incidence in five continents Vol. X. In I. A. f. R. o. Cancer (Ed.), (Vol. X). Lyon: IARC Scientific publications.
Siegel, R., Naishadham, D., & Jemal, A. (2012). Cancer statistics, 2012. CA Cancer Journal of Clinicians, 62(1), 10–29. doi:10.3322/caac.20138
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rotte, A., Bhandaru, M. (2016). Melanoma—Introduction, History and Epidemiology. In: Immunotherapy of Melanoma. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48066-4_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48066-4_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-48065-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-48066-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)