Melanoma Cell Signaling Pathways
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Pathology, Diagnostics, and Therapeutics".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 6323
Special Issue Editor
Interests: cell signaling; melanoma; photobiology; skin cancer; cell metabolism; melaninognesis; cell motility; ionizing radiation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Melanocytes are pigment cells found on the skin, which produce melanin in response to sunlight (UV radiation) exposure. Prolonged exposure to sunlight is the main carcinogen involved in melanoma formation. The formation of melanoma differs between different ethnic groups, with nodular melanoma, superficial spreading melanoma, and lentigo maligna melanoma predominantly seen amongst Caucasians; acral lentiginous melanoma predominates in other ethnic groups. Genomic analysis has shown that metastatic melanomas can be subdivided into four subtypes based on their mutation profile: BRAF-driven, NRAS-driven, NF1-mutated, and the rest are classified as triple wild-type. With the exception of the last subtype, all these melanomas possess mutations that affect signaling through the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. The main mutation observed in melanoma is the BRAFV600E mutation, which is found in ~50% of melanomas, but surprisingly is not caused by UV radiation. In 2011, vemurafenib was approved to treat BRAFV600E melanomas; however, the initial success of this drug was dampened by the development of acquired resistance. Since then, many studies have been conducted on how acquired resistance develops and the other signaling pathways involved in this process. This Special Issue is devoted to the investigation of signaling pathways found in melanomas (e.g., MAPK, PI3K–Akt–mTOR, GPCR, and others) how they are affected by growth factors and/or inhibitors, and to what extent cross-talk occurs between them.
Prof. Dr. Terrence Piva
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- Melanoma
- Cell signaling
- BRAF
- MAPK
- PI3K-AKT-mTOR
- GPCR
