Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is an increasingly common clinical diagnosis and can be broadly classified into melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC), the latter being further subdivided into squamous cell (SCC) and basal cell cancer (BCC). While SCC and BCC originate from keratinocytes occupying the intermediate and basal layers of the epidermis respectively, melanoma is a malignant proliferation of melanocytes, the cells that provide the skin with protection against harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The majority of epidermal malignancies are NMSC, 80 percent of which are BCC, while melanoma accounts for 2 percent of epidermal malignancies and, overall, for 1 percent of all cancer-related mortality. Tumor-initiating or cancer stem cells (CSCs) and skin progenitor cells have been part of a growing area of research in an attempt to ...