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Uveal vs. cutaneous melanoma. Origins and causes of the differences

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Abstract

Melanoma is a malignant tumour derived from melanocytes (dendritic cells originated from the neural crest and capable to produce melanin synthesis) that could be established on the skin or less frequently on the uvea. The cellular origin from both kind of melanoma seems to be the same but the melanocytes migrates to the epithelia for cutaneous melanoma, while for uveal melanoma, they migrate to mesodermic tissues. Despite the common origin, both melanomas show extreme differences in their metastatic potential, clinical response to treatments, immune response and genetic alterations. We will describe some of those differences in this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Facultad de Ciencias Biosanitarias Dpto. Biotecnología, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Ctra. M515, Pozuelo-Majadahonda, Km 1,800, ES-28223, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain

    Carolina Belmar-Lopez, Pablo Mancheno-Corvo & Pilar Martin-Duque

  2. Departamento de Oftalmología, Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Avda. Ramón y Cajal, 3, ES-47005, Valladolid, Spain

    Maria Antonia Saornil

  3. CIC-04 Biothérapies Hépatiques, INSERM, EE 0502, 3ème étage HNB nord1 place Alexis Ricordeau, F-44035, Nantes Cedex 1, France

    Patrick Baril & Georges Vassaux

  4. Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Alberto Sols, CSIC-UAM, Arturo Duperier, 4, ES-28029, Madrid, Spain

    Miguel Quintanilla

Authors
  1. Carolina Belmar-Lopez
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  2. Pablo Mancheno-Corvo
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  3. Maria Antonia Saornil
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  4. Patrick Baril
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  5. Georges Vassaux
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  6. Miguel Quintanilla
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  7. Pilar Martin-Duque
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pilar Martin-Duque.

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Supported by an unrestricted educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline.

Both authors have contributed equally to this work.

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Belmar-Lopez, C., Mancheno-Corvo, P., Saornil, M.A. et al. Uveal vs. cutaneous melanoma. Origins and causes of the differences. Clin Transl Oncol 10, 137–142 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-008-0170-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12094-008-0170-4

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