Whole-genome expression profiling of melanoma progression.

To gain insights into the genetic profile of every stage of the melanoma progression pathway, and to determine to what extent these profiles are similar or distinct, we performed whole-genome expression profiling of tissue specimens representing normal skin, benign and atypical nevi, and early and advanced-stage melanomas. The results of this study provide first-time evidence that significant molecular changes occur distinctly at the border of/transition from melanoma in situ to primary melanoma, and that genes involved in mitotic cell cycle regulation and cell proliferation constitute the two leading categories of genes associated with these changes. Keywords: Stage comparative analysis Biopsy specimens representing normal skin, nevi, early and advanced stage melanomas, a melanoma cell line, and short-term cultures of human melanocytes and keratinocytes were subjected to whole-genome expression profiling.