Molecular Markers for Personalised Approach to Patients with Melanoma

The year 2011 was a breakthrough in melanoma treatment with two new targeted drugs, ipilimumab and vemurafenib, approved after showing overall survival benefit in patients with metastatic melanoma. Vemurafenib was approved only for treatment of patients with activating mutations in BRAF gene. Thus, the detection of activating BRAF mutations, which can be found in ≈50% melanomas, became a standard part of a routine protocol for the treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma. In this review, methods and protocols for the detection of BRAF mutations as an example of molecular marker for personalised approach to patients with melanoma are discussed, with an emphasis on the aspects that are still a matter of discussion and controversies. In addition to BRAF mutations, some other molecular markers for personalised approach to melanoma patients, such as predictive markers for ipilimumab therapy that are still not used routinely, are briefly discussed.