The Registry Study of Genetic Alterations of Melanoma in Taiwan

Overview

Cutaneous melanoma is the most aggressive malignancy in skin cancers. Cutaneous melanoma is a rare disease in Taiwan with an incidence rate of around 1/100,000. Acral lentiginous melanoma is the most common subtype and comprises more than half of cutaneous melanoma in Asia including Taiwan but only 1% in Caucasians. In addition, mucosal melanoma accounts for more than 20% of malignancy melanoma in Taiwan but only 1% in Caucasians. Acral and mucosal melanomas have distinct epidemiological, clinical, pathological and genetic features from non-acral melanoma which is commonly seen in Western countries. Comparing with melanoma in Caucasians, Asian melanoma has higher recurrence rate after primary surgery, lower response rate to immunotherapy, and shorter progression-free survival for immunotherapy and targeted therapy leading generally poor survival outcomes regardless stage.

Most melanoma patients present with locally advanced or metastatic disease at diagnosis reflecting the aggressive disease nature of melanoma in Taiwan. Currently, surgical resection of primary tumor and lymph node dissection are the main treatment for patients with locally advanced melanoma. Adjuvant therapy should be considered for stage III melanoma. Unfortunately, most patients recur after above aggressive treatment. Systemic treatment including targeted therapy, immunotherapy and chemotherapy is the main for unresectable or metastatic melanoma. The prognosis of these patients remains poor with a median survival time around a year. Therefore, a better understanding of this deadly disease is crucial and finding better therapeutic strategies for these patients and stratifying patients with suitable treatment are urgent.

Conditions

Eligibility