Assessment of precision melanoma diagnostics

Abstract

Early melanoma diagnosis is the best and most cost effective method to prevent metastatic melanoma but the diagnosis of malignancy is not absolute. Metastatic patients have a poor prognosis and are expensive to treat. Metastatic patients are treated with inhibitors but many do not respond or experience a relapse of disease. Currently there is a lack of a clinically useful blood and tissue-based test of disease activity. This study will develop a biomarker diagnostic kit for use with melanoma patients with the goal of guiding treatment, better predicting patient outcomes and reducing health care costs.