Molecular Biomarkers for Melanoma Screening, Diagnosis and Prognosis: Current State and Future Prospects

Abstract

Despite significant progress in the development of treatment options, melanoma remains a leading cause of death due to skin cancer. Advances in our understanding of the genetic, transcriptomic, and morphologic spectrum of benign and malignant melanocytic neoplasia have enabled the field to propose biomarkers with potential diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive value. While these proposed biomarkers have the potential to improve clinical decision making at multiple critical intervention points, most remain unvalidated. Clinical validation of even the most commonly assessed biomarkers will require substantial resources, including limited clinical specimens. It is therefore important to consider the properties that constitute a relevant and clinically-useful biomarker-based test prior to engaging in large validation studies. In this review article we adapt an established framework for determining minimally-useful biomarker test characteristics, and apply this framework to a discussion of currently used and proposed biomarkers designed to aid melanoma detection, staging, prognosis, and choice of treatment.

Prognostic and Predictive Biomarkers in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated with Radiotherapy—A Systematic Review

“…Biomarkers have gained an ever-increasing role in the treatment of a wide spectrum of oncological diseases in recent years [ 3 , 4 ]. Treatment is now regularly guided by detection of gene expression or mutations, leading to an increasingly personalized approach.…”

“…The only targeted therapy approved in the USA and European Union in the curative treatment setting is cetuximab, an EGFR-binding antibody whose mechanism of action has been suggested to be driven in large parts by triggering immunologic anti-tumor reactions and not predominantly by inhibition of the EGFR pathway [ 2 ]. Therefore, in the curative setting, HNSCC is still mostly tackled by surgery and radiotherapy (RT; with or without concomitant systemic therapy) without a molecular stratification to choose an escalated or de-escalated strategy, as is common in other oncological diseases (reviewed in Kerr et al [ 3 ], Deacon et al [ 4 ]). Development of reliable and affordable biomarkers is therefore an eminent concern to improve HNSCC treatments.…”

Unraveling the Wide Spectrum of Melanoma Biomarkers

“…The use of serum biomarker assays may identify the presence of residual or recurrent disease prior to imaging studies and relevant radiological evidence. From the therapeutic perspective, this is important, as the prediction or early identification of distant metastasis would enable the timely initiation of systemic therapy in adjuvant or metastatic settings [27].…”

Application of Raman spectroscopy technology based on deep learning algorithm in the rapid diagnosis of glioma

“…[ 6 ] The experimental cost of using molecular biomarkers is relatively high, and there are high requirements for experimental operators. [ 7 ] Therefore, there is an urgent need to establish a simple, fast, convenient, noninvasive, and accurate diagnostic method for glioma.…”