Year: 2008
Type: editorial
Abstract: Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research is dedicated to serving the melanoma and pigment cell biology research communities and seeks to do so by publishing the best quality papers and reviews possible. One measure of success in this enterprise is whether anyone actually reads the papers published. In this respect is satisfying that papers published in Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research are highly downloaded, with the most downloaded to date being the 2006 review on hypopigmenting agents from Paco Solano et al. with well over 2000 downloads. However, downloading a paper does not necessarily equate with reading it. An alternative measure is whether a paper is cited, since one might expect that if someone cites a published paper they ought to have read it, and importantly, being cited means that a paper has in some way contributed to the body of science. It is therefore heart warming that, as the summer solstice approached, ISI announced that the 2007 Impact Factor for Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research (currently listed under its former name of Pigment Cell Research) had increased over 30% to 4.288. While the significance of impact factors is sometimes overstated, the increased citations must indicate that the journal is achieving its goal to be more widely read, and of publishing papers with increased impact on the field. As such, it seems that the journal may well be serving its readers better, and I anticipate the increased impact factor will attract a greater number and higher quality submissions to the journal. The most visible manifestation of melanocytes is the presence of skin and eye pigmentation. Yet melanocytes are also present at non-superficial sites, in the inner ear for example, where they have a key role in hearing. Recently, the presence of melanocytes in the heart has been detected, and in this issue two papers from the Kos and Larue groups examine the developmental origin and factors that affect the degree of melanocyte colonization within the heart. While it is evident that melanocytes are present within the heart, their function there remains unknown since mice lacking neural crest derived melanocytes lack heart melanocytes and yet appear to have normal heart function. One possibility is that they have no function. Yet it seems more likely that their importance will only be manifest under conditions not usually encountered under laboratory conditions, for example under stress or ischemia. Metastatic melanoma is especially refractive to therapeutic intervention. This depressing situation has stimulated research into the therapeutic use of a wide range of novel compounds in the hope that at least some will show some efficacy. One of the most widely investigated are inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACs). However, if the use of HDAC inhibitors is to be successful, the complexities of their effects on de-acetylation of both histone and non-histone targets should be deciphered. In the paper from Yokoyama et al., a novel effect of a wide range of HDAC inhibitors is revealed, namely suppression of expression of the Microphthalmia-associated transcription factor Mitf, most likely by downregulating of factors such as Sox10 and Lef1 that activate the Mitf promoter. This is a particularly significant finding since Mitf controls survival, cell cycle entry and exit, differentiation and migration/metastasis of melanocytes and melanoma. The identification of such an important target for HDAC inhibitors will enhance our understanding of how these drugs function and offer potential new opportunities for enhancing their efficacy. The importance of activating mutations in BRAF and NRAS that lead to constitutive activation of the MAP kinase pathway is widely appreciated. Yet a significant minority of melanomas, particularly uveal melanomas, do not exhibit activation of BRAF or NRAS. Other mechanisms that substitute for BRAF and NRAS presumably exist. The review from Suzie Chen highlights a particularly important set of candidates, the G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and covers their increasingly recognized importance in governing tumourigenesis and metastatic behaviour in melanoma. Given their activity, GPCRs may represent important druggable targets for melanoma therapy. Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research has introduced two new features. First, a new Cell Biology virtual issue has been added to the collection on the http://www.pigment.org web site to make it easier to locate papers and reviews on that topic. Second all papers submitted to the journal are now required to include a short paragraph highlighting the significance of the work submitted. This will appear, like the abstract on the first page of the published article and should make it easier for readers to place the work presented in a wider context.
Source: Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research
Author: Colin Goding
Language: English
Subfield: Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2053059135