Melanoma: oncogenic drivers and the immune system

Advances and in-depth understanding of the biology of melanoma over the past 30 years have contributed to a change in the consideration of melanoma as one of the most therapy-resistant malignancies. The finding that oncogenic BRAF mutations drive tumor growth in up to 50% of melanomas led to a molecular therapy revolution for unresectable and metastatic disease. Moving beyond BRAF, inactivation of immune regulatory checkpoints that limit T cell responses to melanoma has provided targets for cancer immunotherapy. In this review, we discuss the molecular biology of melanoma and we focus on the recent advances of molecularly targeted and immunotherapeutic approaches.