Year: 2009
Type: editorial
Abstract: It is rare that when I go to a bookstore I know what I am looking for. I like to browse. My strategy for finding a good read is simple. Pick up any book that might catch my eye and take a look at the first line. If the first line appeals, I read the first paragraph. If I remain interested, I might read the first page, but by then I will already have a good idea if I am going to buy it. In fact most of the books I read these days I come across by chance and not through recommendations or bestseller lists. If my strategy were different and I only bought books I were specifically looking for, I would miss much of the joy of reading. What has this got to do with science? These days, access to hard copies of journals has become ever more limited. Most of us, whether we like it or not, are forced to search via the internet for articles related to our specific interests. And so more often than not we read what we are looking for. Yet browsing in a library, simply flicking through the pages of journals, can lead to unexpected benefits. The fortuitous discoveries of links between our own research field and those of others can bring enormous benefits, and browsing can provide a much broader overview than simply targeting specific papers. With that in mind, it is a pleasure to welcome the members of the Society for Melanoma Research who will now receive as part of their subscription to the society, a hard copy of this journal. As editor I hope that these new readers will find the journal of interest, not just because of its specific melanoma content, but also through browsing those papers and reviews that are not directly melanoma-related. I also hope that all readers will appreciate the beauty of the pigment biology field via the covers of each issue of the journal, something that is less obvious in an online version. The cover this month has already raised a smile among those who have seen a preview. That said, there are two melanoma related reviews in this issue. That from Hunter Richards and Estela Medrano on epigenetics and melanoma complements an earlier review on a related topic from Anja Bosserhof. In this respect, while increasingly the genetic underpinnings of melanoma initiation and progression are being revealed, much remains to be done to understand the complexities of the epigenetic landscape that is likely to play an equally important role in determining melanoma behaviour. The second review from Marsafy et al., covers the role of dendritic cells in immunotherapy. It has to be said that the enormous efforts made to treat melanoma with immunotherapy have met with scant success. Yet that does not mean that an immunological approach will never be useful. Increasing evidence indicates that melanoma, and most likely most cancers, represents a mixture of cell populations each with different proliferative, metastatic and differentiation potential. Moreover, it seems likely too that each population will not be fixed, but via epigenetic regulation may adopt alternative profiles depending on their microenvironment. The challenge then for immunotherapy, and for that matter all treatment strategies for this disease, is to find a way either to target all populations, or to drive the different populations to adopt a more uniform and therapeutically susceptible profile. The use of dendritic cells to present antigens associated with different melanoma populations is, in the long term, likely to be an important aspect of any successful melanoma immunotherapy. Finally, the last issue of the journal that presented three perspectives on sunbed use and melanoma had a major impact. The perspectives were heavily downloaded and generated a considerable interest in the press and other media. Inevitably, a response was forthcoming the tanning industry in the form of a ‘letter to the editor’ from Dr Grant published in this issue. I suspect the majority of readers of this journal are likely to agree with the sentiment that having a suntan is likely to be beneficial since it will protect against UV-induced skin damage, whereas getting a UV-induced tan and risking DNA damage as a consequence may not be so worthwhile. Dr Grant on the other hand takes a different point of view, and in particular points out the beneficial effects of UV irradiation in vitamin D synthesis and the role of vitamin D as a health benefit. Dr Grant’s letter has been published since I felt that the scientifically educated readership of this journal will be able to judge well enough for themselves the merits or otherwise of Dr Grant’s arguments. However, in his reply, David Fisher points out, that in fact the primary argument for UV irradiation over vitamin D dietary supplements is that high dose vitamin D tablets may be difficult to obtain in Europe. Enough said.
Source: Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research
Author: Colin Goding
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems and Management
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2412114342