Background-Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive skin cancer with a mortality of 33%. Advanced disease at diagnosis is a poor prognostic factor, suggesting that earlier detection may improve outcome. No systematic analysis has been published to define the clinical features that are characteristic of MCC.

Desmoplastic melanoma (DM) is a variant of spindle cell melanoma typically found on chronically sun-damaged skin of older individuals. Early diagnosis can be challenging because it is often amelanotic and has a predominantly dermal component. DM can be difficult to diagnose not only clinically but also histologically, and can be mistaken for a variety of benign and malignant non-melanocytic spindle cell tumors when viewed on prepared histopathology slides. Pathologists have observed that DMs can manifest significant variation with respect to the extent of intratumoral cellularity, fibrosis and/or perineural invasion. Furthermore, some tumors present with a pure desmoplastic invasive component (>90%) while other tumors display mixed features of desmoplastic and non-desmoplastic melanoma. This has lead to the separation of DM into two histologic subtypes, pure and mixed. With a focus on the distinction between pure and mixed DM, this review will detail what is currently known about the diagnostic features of DM, discuss risk and prognostic factors and examine the current literature on disease progression and management.

Deep learning computer vision systems classified melanoma dermoscopy images with accuracy that exceeded some but not all dermatologists.

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an aggressive neuroendocrine skin cancer with poorly characterized genetics. We performed high-resolution comparative genomic hybridization on 25 MCC specimens using a high-density oligonucleotide microarray. Tumors frequently carried extra copies of chromosomes 1, 3q, 5p, and 6 and lost chromosomes 3p, 4, 5q, 7, 10 and 13. MCC tumors with less genomic aberration were associated with improved survival (p=0.04). Tumors from 13 of 22 MCC patients had detectable Merkel cell polyomavirus DNA, and these tumors had fewer genomic deletions. Three regions of genomic alteration were of particular interest: a deletion of 5q12-21 occurred in 26% of tumors, a deletion of 13q14-21 was recurrent in 26% of tumors and contains the well-characterized tumor suppressor RB1, and a novel focal amplification at 1p34 was present in 39% of tumors and centers on L-Myc (MYCL1). L-Myc is related to the c-Myc proto-oncogene, has transforming activity, and is amplified in the closely related small cell lung cancer. Normal skin showed no L-Myc expression, while 4/4 MCC specimens tested expressed L-Myc RNA in relative proportion to the DNA copy number gain. These findings suggest several genes that may contribute to MCC pathogenesis, most notably L-Myc.

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