Dear Colleagues,

Melanoma represents the most malignant type of skin cancer, with increasing incidence worldwide. The alteration of the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK and PI3K/AKT/mTOR signal transduction pathways are key mechanisms involved in the development of melanoma. Moreover, melanoma has long been at the cutting edge of immuno-oncology research, and immunotherapies such as cytokines, adoptive cell transfer, and T-cell modulators represented the first, pioneering approaches. In this scenario, checkpoint inhibitor therapy constitutes the most current and effective treatment strategy that targets immune checkpoints to re-activate silenced T cell cytotoxicity.

Despite the remarkable progress in melanoma diagnosis, research, and new therapeutic approaches, therapy of the advanced stage of this tumor is still rather limited. Common resistance mechanisms bypass the dependence of tumor cells on initial driver mutations during targeted therapy. Similarly, several factors contribute to this immune evasion. Additionally, the tumor microenvironment can facilitate tumor progression with cytokines, chemokines, and inhibitory factors or can recruit immunosuppressive immune cells, including regulatory T cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and tumor-associated macrophages.

This Special Issue will be dedicated to summarizing the state of the art in precision diagnosis and treatment of melanoma and will focus on genetic diagnosis, molecular mechanisms of resistance to targeted and immune therapies, strategies to overcome resistance, and monitoring of disease progression and relapse under therapy (e.g., by liquid biopsy), to provide updated information on the current status of molecular, pharmaceutical, and translational scientific discoveries. Authors are encouraged to submit original research manuscripts but can also provide suggestions for review articles.

Potential topics will include but are not limited to:

• Novel biomarkers for the early diagnosis and progression of melanoma;
• Molecular, genetic, and cellular alterations associated with melanoma;
• Genomic, transcriptomic, and tumor-infiltrating immune cell profiles in predicting immune checkpoint blockade response;
• Potential synergic effects of small molecules and immunotherapy in facing melanoma progression;
• Novel therapeutic strategies to overcome drug-resistance melanoma;
• Application of -omics technologies in precision oncology in melanoma progression.

Dr. Simona D'Aguanno
Guest Editor

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