Laser Capture Microdissection Provides a Novel Molecular Profile of Human Primary Cutaneous Melanoma

Melanoma accounts for the majority of skin cancer related mortality. In-depth molecular analysis of neoplastic melanocytes in whole tissue biopsies is diluted by the inflammatory infiltration, which may obscure gene signatures specific to neoplastic cells. Thus, a method is needed to precisely uncover molecular changes specific to tumor cells from a limited sample of primary melanomas. We performed laser capture microdissection (LCM) and gene expression profiling of patient-derived frozen sections of pigmented lesions and primary cutaneous melanoma.