Therapeutic implications of melanoma heterogeneity.

摘要: Over the last decade, treatment of metastatic melanoma has been revolutionized by translation molecular insights into therapeutic benefit for patients. These include advances in immunotherapeutic and small-molecule approaches aimed at destroying cells with immunogenic antigens or gene mutations. Despite these advances, limited durability clinical response eventual disease progression underscores a need better understanding mechanisms underlying tumor development. Current targeted therapies are developed partly based on rationale that tumors primarily clonal respect to mutant oncogene cell surface antigen target. However, advancement isolation transplantation coupled deep sequencing mutation detection techniques, it become increasingly clear polyclonal. As result, sensitive malignant eradicated while remaining populations conferred varying degrees resistance survival advantages harbouring acquiring certain epigenetic genetic abnormalities. Tumor heterogeneity thus represents major obstacle successful application current therapies. Gaining cellular aspects diversity will not only facilitate development selection targets but also promote evolution precision medicine. In this viewpoint, we discuss implications propose accelerate scientific discovery improved outcomes.