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May marks the beginning of Skin Cancer Awareness Month and today is Melanoma Monday. In recognition of these, we are proud to present a dedicated quiz and the following skin cancer research that has published within our open access oncology journal portfolio.

It is a common misconception that skin cancer and melanoma are one and the same but melanoma is just one type of skin cancer. It is also the deadliest type of skin cancer and is currently ranked the 19^th most common cancer worldwide, though that varies widely by country.

In the UK for example, it is the 5^th most common cancer and in Australia, it is the third most common. Though anyone can develop melanoma, these variations by country are largely because fair-skinned people are at a far greater risk for developing melanoma.

Rates of melanoma also differ by sex as men are at a greater risk of both developing and dying from the disease. Reasons for this disparity include the tendency for men to work outdoors more than women and for women to use moisturizers/cosmetics with SPF more often than men.

Other types of skin cancers are basal cell carcinomas and squamous cells carcinomas. These are very common and are highly treatable. To put things in perspective, it is estimated that more people are diagnosed with skin cancer (including all types) in the US each year than all other cancers combined.

As a global health issue, continued research on skin cancer is of paramount significance particularly regarding risk assessment and diagnostics, cellular pathways, therapeutics, and biomarkers. The articles in this collection have been curated by our oncology journal Editors and include some of the latest research in the field in each of these categories.

Biomarkers

Aberrant DNA methylation in melanoma: biomarker and therapeutic opportunities

Activation and overexpression of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor contribute to cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas: an immunohistochemical study

Discovery of KIRREL as a biomarker for prognostic stratification of patients with thin melanoma

Eosinophil-cationic protein – a novel liquid prognostic biomarker in melanoma

Evaluation of two high-throughput proteomic technologies for plasma biomarker discovery in immunotherapy-treated melanoma patients

Guidelines

An update on the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer consensus statement on tumor immunotherapy for the treatment of cutaneous melanoma: version 2.0

Cellular pathways

Acidic microenvironment plays a key role in human melanoma progression through a sustained exosome mediated transfer of clinically relevant metastatic molecules

Inhibition of skin carcinogenesis by suppression of NF-κB dependent ITGAV and TIMP-1 expression in IL-32γ overexpressed condition

Inhibition of Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 reverts BRAF and MEK inhibition-induced selection of cancer stem cells in BRAF-mutated melanoma

Isolation and characterization of two canine melanoma cell lines: new models for comparative oncology

Semaphorin 5A drives melanoma progression: role of Bcl-2, miR-204 and c-Myb

SOX9 is a dose-dependent metastatic fate determinant in melanoma

TRIM44 activates the AKT/mTOR signal pathway to induce melanoma progression by stabilizing TLR4

Risk assessment and diagnostics

Are prognostic indices for brain metastases of melanoma still valid in the stereotactic era?

Cytogenetic/mutation profile of chronic lymphocytic leukemia/malignant melanoma collision tumors of the skin

Downregulation of RNF128 activates Wnt/β-catenin signaling to induce cellular EMT and stemness via CD44 and CTTN ubiquitination in melanoma

Fabry disease and incidence of cancer

Multifocal gastric adenocarcinoma in a patient with LRBA deficiency

Predominance of triple wild-type and IGF2R mutations in mucosal melanomas

Role of postoperative radiotherapy in dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans: a propensity score-matched analysis

TNF-alpha and metalloproteases as key players in melanoma cells aggressiveness

Vitamin D axis and its role in skin carcinogenesis: a comprehensive review

Therapeutics

(Arg)9-SH2 superbinder: a novel promising anticancer therapy to melanoma by blocking phosphotyrosine signaling

18F–FDG-PET/CT and diffusion-weighted MRI for monitoring a BRAF and CDK 4/6 inhibitor combination therapy in a murine model of human melanoma

Anti-cancer effect of dung beetle glycosaminoglycans on melanoma

Anti-GD2/4-1BB chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy for the treatment of Chinese melanoma patients

Bi-specific and tri-specific antibodies- the next big thing in solid tumor therapeutics

Effects of radiation on the metastatic process

Integrins as therapeutic targets in the organ-specific metastasis of human malignant melanoma

Isoliquiritigenin suppresses human melanoma growth by targeting miR-301b/LRIG1 signaling

Kinase inhibitor library screening identifies synergistic drug combinations effective in sensitive and resistant melanoma cells

Melatonin synergizes BRAF-targeting agent vemurafenib in melanoma treatment by inhibiting iNOS/hTERT signaling and cancer-stem cell traits

Metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the skin with clinical response to lapatinib

Proteasome inhibitors modulate anticancer and anti-proliferative properties via NF-kB signaling, and ubiquitin-proteasome pathways in cancer cell lines of different organs

Proteomics-based insights into mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor resistance of cerebral melanoma metastases

Safety and clinical activity with an anti-PD-1 antibody JS001 in advanced melanoma or urologic cancer patients

Survival and clinical outcomes of patients with melanoma brain metastasis in the era of checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies

Tackling malignant melanoma epigenetically: histone lysine methylation 

Targeted radiotherapy of pigmented melanoma with 131I-5-IPN

Vitexin compound 1, a novel extraction from a Chinese herb, suppresses melanoma cell growth through DNA damage by increasing ROS levels

Articles from the following journals have been included in this collection: Applied Cancer Research, Biomarker Research, BMC Cancer, Clinical Epigenetics, Clinical Proteomics, Cancer Imaging, Diagnostic Pathology, Experimental Hematology & Oncology, Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer, Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research, Journal of Hematology & Oncology, Lipids in Health and Disease, Molecular Cytogenetics, Molecular Medicine, Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases, Radiation Oncology.

Now that you’ve read the research, why not test your knowledge of skin cancer with our Skin Cancer Awareness Quiz?