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Review
. 2022 Aug 16;20(1):367.
doi: 10.1186/s12967-022-03532-2.

Clinical features, molecular pathology, and immune microenvironmental characteristics of acral melanoma

Jianping Gui #  1 , Zhen Guo #  1 , Di Wu  2
Affiliations
Review

Clinical features, molecular pathology, and immune microenvironmental characteristics of acral melanoma

Jianping Gui et al. J Transl Med. .

Abstract

Acral melanoma (AM) has unique biology as an aggressive subtype of melanoma. It is a common subtype of melanoma in races with darker skin tones usually diagnosed at a later stage, thereby presenting a worse prognosis compared to cutaneous melanoma. The pathogenesis of acral melanoma differs from cutaneous melanoma, and trauma promotes its development. Compared to cutaneous melanomas, acral melanomas have a significantly lighter mutational burden with more copy number variants. Most acral melanomas are classified as triple wild-type. In contrast to cutaneous melanomas, acral melanomas have a suppressive immune microenvironment. Herein, we reviewed the clinical features, genetic variants, and immune microenvironmental characteristics of limbic melanomas to summarise their unique features.

Keywords: Acral melanoma; Clinical features; Immune microenvironment; Molecular pathology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this article.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A summary of the main points in the text. CSVs chromosomal structural variations, CNVs copy number variations, TWT triple wild-type, TILs tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, CTCs circulating tumor cells, CMCs circulating melanoma cells, MCAM melanoma cell adhesion molecule, CR complete response, PR partial remission, SD stable disease, PD progression disease
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