New perspectives on melanoma pathogenesis and chemoprevention.

Epidemiologic studies implicate ultraviolet radiation (sunlight) as an etiologic agent for the pathogenesis of melanoma. However, the experimental evidence is less convincing. We present information from recent experimental findings that elevation of reactive oxygen species follows from melanin serving as a redox generator, and that this may play an important role in the etiology and pathogenesis of cutaneous melanoma. These observations offer a new paradigm for the development of preventive (and therapeutic) approaches to this disease.