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Review
. 2018 Dec;144(12):2283-2302.
doi: 10.1007/s00432-018-2726-1. Epub 2018 Aug 9.

Melanoma treatment: from conventional to nanotechnology

Harshita Mishra  1 , Pawan K Mishra  2 , Adam Ekielski  3 , Manu Jaggi  4 , Zeenat Iqbal  1 , Sushama Talegaonkar  5   6
Affiliations
Review

Melanoma treatment: from conventional to nanotechnology

Harshita Mishra et al. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2018 Dec.

Abstract

Introduction: Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer causing most of the skin cancer-related deaths. The incidence of melanoma has risen so dramatically over past few years that no other solid or blood malignancy comes close to it in terms of increased incidence. The main problem associated with the treatment of melanoma is low response rate to the existing treatment modalities, which in turn is due to the incomplete response by chemotherapeutic agents and inherent resistance of melanoma cells.

Materials and methods: Conventional therapeutic strategies, as well as, recent literature on melanoma have been thoroughly studied. This review summarizes the base of anti-melanoma treatment with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs, followed by an account of recent studies which explored the potential of nanotechnology and newer strategies and agents in melanoma treatment.

Conclusion: Although melanoma is curable if detected in its early localized form, metastatic melanoma continues to be a therapeutic challenge. Metastatic melanoma has a very poor prognosis and conventional therapies have not improved the outcomes of the treatment so far. For this reason, newer combinations of anti-melanoma drugs and newer strategies utilizing nanotechnology have been constantly explored.

Keywords: Anti-melanoma; Dacarbazine; Immuno-therapy; Melanoma treatment; Nano-agents; Nanotechnology; Targeted therapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Classification of melanoma treatment modalities
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Anti-melanoma drugs and agents: oldest treatment of melanoma is with chemotherapy (dacarbazine and temozolomide) which inhibit cancer cells growth by alkylating DNA. Targeted agents are those that target specific gene or mutation such as BRAF and MEK. Immunotherapeutic agents potentiate the immune response of the patient towards cancer cells damaged by chemotherapy. Nano-agents are the current interest and have shown promising results. They act by generating ROS and targeting therapeutic agents to the target site. NP nanoparticle, NT nanotube
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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