Issn Print: 0960-8931
Publication Date: 2002/02/01
Excerpt
Despite the serious efforts of those engaged in research on melanoma, it is chastening to have to report that there is still a very long way to go in the search for adequate therapeutic strategies for the disseminated form of this malignancy. As adumbrated in previous editorials, it is clear that melanoma exhibits great resistance to conventional cancer chemotherapy. The relative radioresistance of melanoma is well recognized and, despite early promise, biological approaches to therapy, especially in the form of adjuvant interferon-α, have been disappointing. The recent development of specific vaccines has apparently not yet borne fruit. Rational approaches utilizing specific targeting strategies, such as melanoma antigens or the overexpression of tyrosinase or other melanogenic enzymes, have yet to generate clinically reliable treatment. All this, when set against the background of enormous research effort, would seem to bear a bleak message. However, given adequate resources – a topic covered in the Review by Meenhard Herlyn published in this issue of Melanoma Research– we believe that the problem of melanoma is not insoluble. It is imperative that more basic research into the disturbances leading to the expression of malignant characteristics in pigment cells is sponsored, and that the outcome of this work should feed rapidly into clinical practice. It is precisely this aim that underpins the publication of Melanoma Research. The object of this journal is to publish the latest fundamental studies and bring them rapidly to the attention of the clinical theatre of operations. We are, therefore, streamlining our future editorial policy to bring this about with greater efficiency. Naturally, we hope that this will not only meet with the approval of our colleagues in the field, but also be reflected in further and continuing improvements in the impact factor and other indices of performance.
The past year has been successful, with a rise in the impact factor to 1.862, and the publication of several seminal articles and reports. We are grateful to our publishers Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, and to those responsible for handling the flow of manuscripts, especially Phil Daly, Jamie Hutchins, Neil McWhinnie and Theresa Gallagher. Our Editorial Board have been very helpful and we are deeply indebted, as always, to our reviewers for their valuable time and expertise. Finally, we acknowledge the many fine contributions of our authors and correspondents without whose efforts Melanoma Research would have no reason for existence.
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