Genetic alterations in malignant melanoma

Many advances in the understanding of the genetic and cellular events that drive melanoma formation have occurred in the last decade. Despite intensive efforts to develop melanoma therapies, no approved melanoma therapy significantly increases overall survival of advanced-stage patients. An awareness of the genetic alterations that occur in melanoma will be critical in order to facilitate the development of effective individualized melanoma therapies. This understanding may also aid the discovery of molecular biomarkers that refine histopathological determinants of prognosis and melanoma diagnosis. In this article, we review a brief background on melanoma epidemiology and what is currently known about common genetic alterations found in sporadic and inherited melanoma as well as their effects on melanoma formation and progression.