The Pathogenesis of Melanoma Induced by Ultraviolet Radiation

Skin cancers, predominantly basal-cell and squamous-cell carcinomas, have accounted for an estimated 40 percent of all cancers in the United States in recent years, and their frequency has been increasing.1,2 The frequency of malignant melanoma, by far the most common fatal skin cancer, has also increased, by a factor of approximately 15 in the past 60 years.35 In 1997, more than 40,000 new cases of malignant melanoma were diagnosed in the United States, and more than 7200 patients with the disease died.1 Moreover, malignant melanoma is one of the most common cancers in young adults.6 Efforts to educate . . .