ABSTRACT
Cutaneous melanoma is among the most aggressive types of human cancer, and if untreated, has the potential to metastasize. Cutaneous melanoma is defined as a malignant tumor derived from the transformation and proliferation of epidermal melanocytes, enabling a stepwise progression from common melanocytic nevus to radial growth phase melanoma, vertical growth phase melanoma and, finally, metastatic disease. A handful of morphogenetic signaling pathways regulating developmental processes, organ homeostasis and self-renewal in normal stem cells, plays also a critical role in tumorigenesis. During the past decades, numerous reports have portrayed melanoma as an aggressive cancer with an exceptionally high degree of heterogeneity and plasticity. Traditional treatments might be recalibrated and novel therapies need to be developed focusing on the ability to target the melanoma stem cell population and its specific signaling pathways.
