Molecular Diagnostics for Melanoma Methods and Protocols

In Molecular Diagnostics for Melanoma: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers and clinicians in the field of melanoma provide updated information on biomarkers and assays for diagnosis, prognosis, and assays predicting response to treatment for routine testing. The focus of the volume is on biomarkers with established clinical validity rather than those on early discovery stage. With additional in-depth discussion of the molecular biology and pathology of melanoma, treatment options in adjuvant and metastatic setting, and implications of biomarker testing for clinical management of melanoma patients.

Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include extensive introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and key tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls.

Comprehensive and practical, Molecular Diagnostics for Melanoma: Methods and Protocols seeks to provide both clinicians and scientists with technical information and extensive background information on the wide ranging approaches available in the field of diagnostics of melanoma.

Part I. Clinical Challenges and Current Status of Treatment of Melanoma

 1. Novel Insights/translational Implication from the Emerging Biology of Melanoma         

            Antoni Ribas

 2. Emerging Clinical Issues in Melanoma in the Molecularly Targeted Era

            Ryan J. Sullivan and Michael B. Atkins

 3. Integrating Molecular Biomarkers Into Current Clinical Management In Melanoma

            Ragini Kudchadkar, Geoffrey Gibney, and Vernon K. Sondak

 Part II. Biomarkers for Prediction of Response and Resistance to Treatment

 4. Advances in Adjuvant Therapy: Potential for Prognostic and Predictive Biomarkers

            Diwakar Davar, Ahmad A. Tarhini, Helen Gogas, and John M. Kirkwood

 5. Immunologic Monitoring of Cancer Vaccine Trials Using the ELISPOT Assay  

            Lisa H. Butterfield and Mary Jo Buffo

 6. Markers for Anti-Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte Antigen 4 (CTLA-4) Therapy in Melanoma

            Michael A. Postow, Jianda Yuan, Shigehisa Kitano, Alexander M. Lesokhin, and Jedd D. Wolchok

7. Marker Utility for Combination Therapy

            Ester Simeone, Antonio M. Grimaldi, and Paolo A. Ascierto

8. Assaying for BRAF V600E in Tissue and Blood in Melanoma

            David J. Panka, James W. Mier, and Ryan J. Sullivan

 9. Selecting Patients for KIT Inhibition in Melanoma

            Richard D. Carvajal, Omid Hamid, and Cristina R. Antonescu

 10. Detecting Mechanisms of Acquired BRAF inhibitor Resistance in Melanoma

            Roger Lo and Hubing Shi

 11. Current Status of Diagnostic and Prognostic Markers in Melanoma      

            Danielle Levine and David E. Fisher

 12. Chromosomal Copy Number Analysis in Melanoma Diagnostics

            Jeffrey P. North, Swapna Vemula, and Boris C. Bastian

 13. Construction and Analysis of Multi-Parameter Prognostic Models for Melanoma Outcome

            Bonnie E. Gould Rothberg and David L. Rimm

 14. Immunohistochemical Diagnostic and Prognostic Markers for Melanoma

            Mehdi Nosrati and Mohammed Kashani-Sabet

 15. Lymphatic Invasion as a Prognostic Biomarker in Primary Cutaneous Melanoma

            Xiaowei Xu, Phyllis A. Gimotty, DuPont Guerry, Giorgos Karakousis, and David E. Elder

 16. Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes and Their Significance in Melanoma Prognosis

            Tobias Schatton, Richard A. Scolyer, John F. Thompson, and Martin C. Mihm, Jr.

 17. Pathological Staging of Melanoma

            David E. Elder

 18. Genotyping of Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Ancestral Haplotypes as Prognostic Marker in Cancer Using PCR Analysis

            Lisa Villabona, Emilia Andersson, Maddalena Marchesi, and Giuseppe V. Masucci

 19. B7-H Abnormalities in Melanoma and Clinical Relevance

            Barbara Seliger

 20. Melanoma Susceptibility Genes and Risk Assessment

            Alexander Marxuka-Alcalá, Michele Jacobs Gabree, and Hensin Tsao

 Part IV. Uveal Melanoma

 21. Clinical, Pathologic, and Imaging Features, and Biological Markers of Uveal Melanoma

            Hans E. Grossniklaus and Alia B. Rashid

 22. A Prognostic Test to Predict Risk of Metastasis in Uveal Melanoma Based on a 15-Gene Expression Profile

            J. William Harbour

 23. Molecular Karyotyping for Detection of Prognostic Markers in Fine Needle Aspirate Biopsy Samples of Uveal Melanoma

            Arupa Ganguly, Jennifer Richards-Yutz, and Kathryn G. Ewens

 Part V. Emerging Markers/Targets in Melanoma

24. ERBB4 Mutation Analysis: Emerging Molecular Target for Melanoma Treatment

            Christopher Lau, Keith J. Killian, Yardena Samuels, and Udo Rudloff

 25. Epigenetic Markers of Prognosis in Melanoma

            Luca Sigalotti, Elisabetta Fratta, Giulia Parisi, Sandra Coral, and Michele Maio

 26. Isolation of Melanoma Cell Subpopulations Using Negative Selection

            Ana Slipicevic, Rajasekharan Somasundaram, Katrin Sproesser, and Meenhard Herlyn

 27. Circulating Tumor Cells as Prognostic Biomarkers in Cutaneous Melanoma Patients

            Eiji Kiyohara, Keisuke Hata, Stella Lam, and Dave S. B. Hoon

 28. Detection of Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan 4 (CSPG4) in Melanoma

            Yangyang Wang, Francesco Sabbatino, Xinhui Wang, and Soldano Ferrone

 29. Targeting Damage Associated Molecular Pattern Molecules (DAMPs) and DAMP Receptors in Melanoma

            Brian A. Boone and Michael T. Lotze

 30. The Clinical Use of PET/CT in the Evaluation of Melanoma

Khun Visith Keu and Andrei H. Iagaru

 Part VI. Emerging Technologies for Marker Validation

 31. Immune System Functional Pathway Analysis Using Single Cell Network Profiling (SCNP): A Novel Tool in Cancer Immunotherapy

            Alessandra Cesano

 32. Quantitative and Spatial Image Analysis of Tumor and Draining Lymph Nodes Using Immunohistochemistry and High Resolution Multispectral Imaging to Predict Metastasis

            Kim R.M. Blenman and Peter P. Lee

 33. COLD-PCR Enriches Low-Level Variant DNA Sequences and Increases the Sensitivity of Genetic Testing

            Elena Castellanos-Rizaldos, Coren A. Milbury, Minakshi Guha, and G. Mike Makrigiorgos

 34. Isolation of Circulating MicroRNAs from Microvesicles found in Human Plasma

            John F. Quackenbush, Pamela B. Cassidy, Lawrence M. Pfeffer, Kenneth M. Boucher, Jason E. Hawkes, Susan R. Pfeffer, Levy Kopelovich, and Sancy A. Leachman

 35. Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells by Photoacustic Flowmetry

            Ryan M. Weight and James A. Viator

 Part VII. Marker Validation Requirements for Clinical Applicability

 36. Statistical Design and Evaluation of Biomarker Studies

            Kevin K. Dobbin

 37. Tissue Resources for Clinical Use and Marker Studies in Melanoma

            Jonathan L. Curry, Michael A. Davies, Tiffany L. Calderone, Katherine Nathanson, Victor G. Prieto, and Jeffrey Gershenwald.