Abstract
Skin cancer has always been and remains the leader among all tumors in terms of occurrence. One of the main factors responsible for skin cancer, natural and artificial UV radiation, causes the mutations that transform healthy cells into cancer cells. These mutations inactivate apoptosis, an event required to avoid the malignant transformation of healthy cells. Among these deadliest of cancers, melanoma and its ‘younger sister’, Merkel cell carcinoma, are the most lethal. The heavy toll of skin cancers stems from their rapid progression and the fact that they metastasize easily. Added to this is the difficulty in determining reliable margins when excising tumors and the lack of effective chemotherapy. Possibly the biggest problem posed by skin cancer is reliably detecting the extent to which cancer cells have spread throughout the body. The initial tumor is visible and can be removed, whereas metastases are invisible to the naked eye and much harder to eliminate. In our opinion, antisense oligonucleotides, which can be used in the form of targeted ointments, provide real hope as a treatment that will eliminate cancer cells near the tumor focus both before and after surgery.
Highlights
Skin: Where One-Third of New Cancers Are BornThe human body’s largest organ, is complex. An adult has between 1.5 and 2 square meters of skin, responsible for about 15–17% of total body mass
Among others, we asked: are there any alternatives or additional medical practices that could be used in conjunction with surgery that could decrease the probability of recurrence, or even prevent lesions from developing in the first place? Notable results have been achieved with the use of chemoprevention and chemotherapy, but the possibility of preventing/curing serious skin cancers such as melanoma and its ‘younger sister’, Merkel cell carcinoma, remains elusive
Several other molecular abnormalities have been reported in Merkel cell carcinomas, including overexpression of Hedgehog (Hh) signal pathway proteins, telomerase activation (TERT), chromosomal abnormalities [119], and microRNA alterations [120]. Those with compromised immune systems are at greater risk; the immunosuppression accompanying HIV infection increases the relative risk of Merkel cell carcinoma ~13-fold, and that experienced by solid-organ transplant patients by 10-fold [121,122]
Summary
The human body’s largest organ, is complex. An adult has between 1.5 and 2 square meters of skin, responsible for about 15–17% of total body mass. Squamous cell carcinoma is known to originate in the basal cell layer of the epidermis from progenitor/stem cells. It has been proposed that they develop either from cells in the bulge region of the hair follicle (an area rich in keratinocyte stem cells) or, like squamous cell carcinoma, in the basal cell layer of the epidermis from progenitor/stem cells [24]. Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, one of the unusual skin cancers mentioned previously, is known to be a mesenchymal tumor that originates in fibroblasts [27]. It is the most common of all the dermal sarcomas [28], usually affecting the dermis and subcutaneous tissue.
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