Contemporary views on the clinical, epidemiological and molecular genetic characteristics of melanoma of the skin and mucous membranes

Melanoma of the skin and mucous membranes remains a global medical problem, which is associated with the increasing prevalence of this disease and the lack of adequate molecular genetic markers for its diagnosis and prognosis. The development of molecular approaches in the treatment of this type of tumor is associated with the identification of mutations, and with the development of immunotherapeutic and targeted drugs that can improve the effectiveness of treatment of patients with this pathology. However, the heterogeneity of the mechanisms of tumor development and the formation of resistance are a problem. It is worth noting the presence of many epigenetic mechanisms that are promising markers of the development, diagnosis and prognosis of the effectiveness of treatment of melanoma of the skin and mucous membranes. This review contains up-to-date information on the molecular mechanisms of the disease associated with the genetic characteristics of the tumor and biological factors of resistance to therapy. Of particular interest is the intersection of signaling pathways associated with melanocyte-inducing transcription factor (MITF), which is associated with transcription and growth factors, and is a target of epigenetic regulation using microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs.