The first formal acknowledgment of advanced melanoma as untreatable came from Samuel Cooper in 1840. He stated that the only chance for a cure depends upon the early removal of the disease (i.e., early excision of the malignant mole) ...More than one and a half centuries later this situation remains largely unchanged. Terminology
The word melanoma came to English from 19th-century New Latin and uses combining forms derived from ancient Greek roots: melano- (denoting melanin) + -oma (denoting a tissue mass and especially a neoplasm), in turn from Greek μέλας melas, "dark", and -ωμα oma, "process". The word melanoma has a long history of being used in a broader sense to refer to any melanocytic tumor, typically, but not always malignant, but today the narrower sense referring only to malignant types has become so dominant that benign tumors are usually not called melanomas anymore and the word melanoma is now usually taken to mean malignant melanoma unless otherwise specified. Terms such as "benign melanocytic tumor" unequivocally label the benign types, and modern histopathologic tumor classifications used in medicine do not use the word for benign tumors. Research
Pharmacotherapy research for unresectable or metastatic malignant melanoma is ongoing. Targeted therapies
In clinical research, adoptive cell therapy and gene therapy, are being tested.Two kinds of experimental treatments developed at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), have been used in metastatic melanoma with tentative success.The first treatment involves adoptive cell therapy (ACT) using TILs immune cells (tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes) isolated from a persons own melanoma tumor.
Use of sunbeds (with deeply penetrating UVA rays) has been linked to the development of skin cancers, including melanoma.Possible significant elements in determining risk include the intensity and duration of sun exposure, the age at which sun exposure occurs, and the degree of skin pigmentation. Melanoma rates tend to be highest in countries settled by migrants from Northern Europe which have a large amount of direct, intense sunlight to which the skin of the settlers is not adapted, most notably Australia. Exposure during childhood is a more important risk factor than exposure in adulthood. This is seen in migration studies in Australia.Having multiple severe sunburns increases the likelihood that future sunburns develop into melanoma due to cumulative damage. The sun and tanning beds are the main sources of UV radiation that increase the risk for melanoma and living close to the equator increases exposure to UV radiation. Genetics
A number of rare mutations, which often run in families, greatly increase melanoma susceptibility. Several genes increase risks. Some rare genes have a relatively high risk of causing melanoma; some more common genes, such as a gene called MC1R that causes red hair, have a relatively lower elevated risk. Genetic testing can be used to search for the mutations.One class of mutations affects the gene CDKN2A. An alternative reading frame mutation in this gene leads to the destabilization of p53, a transcription factor involved in apoptosis and in 50% of human cancers.