Year: 2008
Type: editorial
Abstract: While the leopard may not be able to change its spots, a journal may change its title. After 20 years, Pigment Cell Research has gracefully metamorphosed into Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research* *Pigment Cell and Melanoma Research represents a name change from Pigment Cell Research, and not a merger with Melanoma Research which continues as an independent journal in its own right. . The name change is driven by the desire that this journal will engage more actively with members of the melanoma community and reflects the adoption last year of Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research as the official journal of the Society for Melanoma Research (SMR). As I mentioned in previous editorials, the advantages of the association with the SMR are many, not least that this journal becomes a focus for the entire pigment cell research community irrespective of whether one works on basic pigment cell biology or pigment cell-related diseases such as melanoma. Given that Pigment Cell Research perhaps did not have as high an awareness among melanoma researchers as it might have deserved, it is anticipated that the new name will raise its profile and thereby contribute to increasing its readership. Certainly the journal achieved a considerable boost via its presence at the recent high profile SMR meeting in New York and was pleased to sponsor a poster prize awarded to Suzie Chen for her work on the metabotropic glutamate receptor in melanoma, a model that will no doubt become increasingly important. While this journal recognizes the importance of the link with the SMR, the historic association with the International Federation of Pigment Cell Societies is equally important and has underpinned the increasing success of the journal over recent years. Given that Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research aims to foster interest and promote collaboration across the full spectrum of pigment cell biology, the joint IFPCS/SMR meeting in Sapporo in May 2008 will represent an excellent forum to further raise the awareness of this journal as well facilitate inter-society communication. The desire to engage more fully with the melanoma community is reflected in the series of high quality reviews on different aspects of melanoma biology published over the past 2 years in Pigment Cell Research. This continues in the first issue of Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research with two reviews, one on melanoma stem cells and the other on the genetics underpinning the early stages of melanoma progression. It is sad fact that most therapeutic approaches to melanoma remain unsuccessful and the question arises as to why. One reason is heterogeneity within the tumour. If therapies are designed to target a specific cell population such as proliferating cells via chemotherapy, or differentiated cells via immunotherapy, then non-targeted populations will be largely unaffected, and will simply adapt to produce new tumours that will eventually exhibit resistance to therapeutic intervention. One of the major findings in cancer biology of recent years has been the identification of cells within tumours with stem cell-like properties. This does not mean that they are true stem cells, as one obvious difference is that cancer stem cells will harbour pro-proliferation and anti-senescence mutations that led to tumour formation in the first instance. Rather cancer stem cells will share with their normal counterparts, properties of self-renewal and the capacity to generate other sub-populations of cells within a tumour, as well as possibly exhibiting gene expression profiles that may be related. In melanoma, it has been clear from some time that some cells, perhaps a small minority, exhibit stem cell-like features. Understanding the nature of these cells, identifying markers for their detection and finding ways in which they may be driven to lose their stem cell properties will be a key aspect of developing an effective melanoma therapy and is the topic covered in the review from Markus Frank. For therapies to be truly effective, it is likely that they should be applied at the early stages of the disease, before the accumulation of substantial genome rearrangements and mutations that will give rise to a diverse genetic pool from which a process of Darwinian selection will yield resistant clones. For this reason identifying the genetic lesions that underpin the genesis and early stages of melanoma progression is crucial. Fortunately, a range of relatively new genome-wide tools for detecting chromosomal rearrangements have been applied and the repertoire of genes implicated in melanomagenesis has increased as a consequence. The nature of these lesions and their likely role in melanoma progression is covered in the review from Dot Bennett, and, for myself, it is heart-warming to find TBX2 among those genes that may be particularly important. One of the striking features of melanocytes is that so much of their function is controlled and coordinated by a single transcription factor, Mitf, that variously controls survival, cell cycle entry and exit and differentiation including the expression of most, if not all, the genes implicated in the manufacture of the melanosome. Previous work from a number of groups has suggested that in vitro Mitf may control melanocyte dendricity, a key part of the ability of melanocytes to transfer melanosomes to the surrounding keratinocytes. The paper from Kawasaki et al. now provides substantial evidence that Mitf controls dendricity and melanosome distribution using a Xenopus model system. Importantly the results suggest that the effect of Mitf on melanosome distribution may be mediated by Rab27a. If so, then Mitf appears to be a key player not just in melanosome biogenesis, but also in delivering the melanosome to the surrounding cells. Finally, the readers of the journal are invited to participate in the cover competition by voting for the best cover of 2007 online at http://www.blackwellpublishingsurvey.com/survey/148989/1406/. The winner of the cover of the year will receive a copy of ‘The Pigmentary System‘, a reference bible for those interested in all aspects of pigmentation, while those who voted will have the opportunity to win a free 2008 subscription to Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research as well as a copy of ‘Melanoma: Critical Debates‘, edited by Julia Newton Bishop and Martin Gore.
Source: Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research
Author: Colin Goding
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1689134555