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Abstract
Melanoma is one of the cancers with the fastest growing incidence. The main reason for that is the greater sun exposure of pale Caucasian resulting from a profound lifestyle modification. Melanoma has also a bad reputation of a rapid killer. This is due to the lack of efficacious treatment in advanced disease. We have to bear in mind that early stages are curable. Therefore, public education is mandatory for early detection. Nowadays, the current staging of early stage melanoma includes a sentinel lymph node biopsy. More than half of the patients with a lymph node invaded will relapse within 5 years. No adjuvant therapy may prevent these relapses. IFN-could only delay the onset of relapses while patients are under treatment. There are some elements suggesting that those who benefit the most of this treatment are those with an ulcerated primary tumor. The standard treatment for advanced or metastatic disease remains DTIC as single agent with limited efficacy. However, we are at the dawn of a new era in the treatment of melanoma. Mutations in genes encoding proteins involved in signal transduction such as bRAF have been identified. Inhibitors of these proteins have been developed and tested in clinic with astonishing efficacy. Hope is also coming with new antibodies blocking CTLA-4, which is powerful break of T-cell. Large randomized trials with all these agents are ongoing. Within 10 years, the treatment of our patients will change with specific treatment for each subtype of melanoma
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Seront, E., & Baurain, J.-F. (2010). Advances in melanoma treatment. Belgian Journal of Medical Oncology, 4(2), 46-56. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/33067 (Original work published 2010)