The Pathogenesis of Melanoma Induced by Ultraviolet Radiation

Abstract

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 . . .