From NIH: Shedding Light on Melanocyte Pathobiology In Vivo

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22422936

Cancer Res. 2012 Mar 15. [Epub ahead of print]

Shedding Light on Melanocyte Pathobiology In Vivo.

Zaidi MR, De Fabo EC, Noonan FP, Merlino G.

Source

Authors' Affiliations: Laboratory of Cancer Biology & Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland; Laboratory of Photobiology & Photoimmunology, Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Tropical Medicine, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC.

Abstract

Cutaneous malignant melanoma is rapidly increasing in the developed world and continues to be a challenge in the clinic. Although extensive epidemiologic evidence points to solar UV as the major risk factor for melanoma, there is a significant gap in our knowledge about how this most ubiquitous environmental carcinogen interacts with the largest organ of the mammalian body (skin) at the microenvironmental and molecular level. We review some recent advances that have started to close this gap.