Melanoma and Non-Melanoma Skin Cancers

Cutaneous malignancies affect millions of people worldwide. These cancers cover a wide clinical spectrum, from relatively indolent types, such as the most common form of cancer basal cell carcinoma, to more lethal ones, such as melanoma. In this chapter we uncover the role of the translation machinery and its regulatory mechanisms in the biology of skin cancers with a special emphasis on melanoma. We show that, while a plethora of translation factors appears to be implicated in the development and progression of melanoma and other skin cancers, translation initiation factor eIF4E represents a fundamental component of their etiology and pathogenesis. This paradigm is emphasized by the recent groundbreaking discoveries of mutations and alterations in the key signaling pathways that serve as the foundation of melanoma biology and that converge on the control of translation via eIF4E. Different aspects of melanoma biology, treatment and drug-resistance will be also highlighted in relation to translation and its control.