Human Melanoma: From Basic Research to Clinical Application

Malignant melanoma is the focus of investigations which range from basic re­ search to clinical trials with conventional therapy and with biological response modifiers. The involvement of investigators with different backgrounds in combi­ nation with recent progress in biotechnology has facilitated the characterization of the antigenic profile of melanoma cells, the analysis of the structural and function­ al properties of melanoma-associated antigens, and the application of immuno­ diagnostic and immunotherapeutic approaches to melanoma. As a result, a large body of information about various aspects of melanoma has been rapidly accumu­ lated during the past few years. In organizing this book I aimed at providing a readily available source of infor­ mation on the current research in melanoma. To this end I invited investigators with active research programs to contribute chapters describing and discussing the significance of their most recent results. To facilitate the preparation of the manu­ scripts and to avoid duplicating other recently published books on melanoma, I discouraged the contributors from providing extensive reviews of the literature on the various topics. Although I made every effort to be as complete as possible in the selection of the contributors, while writing this preface I realized that I had overlooked at least three investigators whose work should have been included.