We read with interest the publication by Daniotti et al. (2009) that addresses an important clinical problem—that of melanomas arising in pediatric patients. These lesions pose significant difficulties as they are often difficult to distinguish from Spitz nevi and the underlying genetic alterations and targets for therapy are generally not known. After screening for a number of germ-line (CDKN2A, CDK4, and MC1R) and somatic (CDKN2A, KIT, BRAF and NRAS) alterations that are common in adult melanoma, the authors conclude that genetic alterations of KIT occur frequently in this subset of melanocytic neoplasms.
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