Incidence of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, continues to increase among older adults and young women worldwide despite significant efforts to inform the public about risk factors such as sun exposure and the need to monitor skin for potential neoplastic lesions. While mortality rates have stabilized in the US, first-line chemotherapeutic and radiation treatment of metastatic melanoma remains largely ineffective, highlighting the need to better understand the mechanisms underlying disease initiation and progression. Melanoma results from malignant transformation of melanocytes. The most frequent site of transformation is in the skin where melanocytes produce the pigment melanin that confers skin color and protects against sun-induced damage. Multiple factors contribute to melanoma risk, including genetic predisposition and environmental risk factors such as sun exposure. The focus of this special issue will be on the mechanisms underlying melanocyte transformation and progression from localized to metastatic disease. We welcome authors to submit original research articles, review articles, case reports, and clinical studies that address these issues. The topics to be covered include, but are not limited to:

• Melanoma epidemiology
  • Genetic risk factors for sporadic melanoma
    • Functional analysis of genes associated with risk of melanoma
    • Genome-wide and candidate gene association studies
  • UV exposure and melanoma
    • Melanocyte response to UV exposure
• Public education
  • Prevention strategies to reduce melanoma incidence
• Biology of melanocyte transformation
  • Changing expression profiles during melanocyte transformation
• Mechanisms underlying progression to metastatic malignant melanoma
• Clinical management of patients at risk of melanoma
• Diagnostic approaches
  • Morphological (clinical, dermoscopical, and histopathological) aspects of melanoma development
• Novel approaches to treatment of melanoma
  • Personalized treatment of melanoma based on genetic profiling of tumors

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/drp/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/ according to the following timetable: