Tumor stem cells and cell - cell interactions in the development and treatment of melanoma

Melanoma is an extremely aggressive dangerous malignant disease with a high risk of recurrence and metastasis, with high resistance to cytotoxic agents and poor prognosis. In melanoma, the heterogeneity of the tumor cell population is one of the reasons for the low sensitivity of this tumor to antitumor drug therapy. Explanation is in the concept of stem tumor cells. On the one hand, the stem cell has an ability to self-regulate and maintain a pool of similar cells; on the other hand, it is able to produce clones of more differentiated cells. Recently, significant progress has been made in understanding the pathogenesis and treatment of melanoma. An improvement of the results of melanoma treatment became possible due to the identification of potential oncogenes - targets for targeted melanoma therapy.