MicroRNAs in Malignant Tumors of the Skin : First Steps of Tiny Players in the Skin to a New World of Genomic Medicine

Michael Sand gives the reader an overview of current techniques in expression profiling of miRNAs and their maturation machinery in the skin. This book is a postdoctoral thesis on miRNAs in cutaneous malignant melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer with a focus on the miRNA processing machinery and miRNA expression profiling. The research presented in this book was performed in the Dermatologic Surgery Section at the Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany and gives the reader an overview of current techniques in expression profiling of miRNAs and their maturation machinery in the skin. Contents MicroRNAS Basal cell carcinoma Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma Cutaneous malignant melanoma Target Groups Researchers and students in the field of medicine, dermatology, molecular biology, pathology Dermatologist and pathologist About the Author Michael Sand, MD studied medicine at the Ruhr-University of Bochum / Germany, Harvard Medical School Boston and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). After board certification in Dermatology, Venereology and Emergency Medicine at the Ruhr-University Bochum / Germany he and his team started to investigate the role of microRNA in the skin. He is currently an attending physician in the Department of Plastic Surgery, Catholic Clinics of the Ruhr Peninsula, Essen, Germany with a clinical focus on surgical therapy of skin cancer and a research focus on the role of microRNAs in malignant skin tumors Front Matter....Pages I-XI Introduction....Pages 1-13 Objectives of this work....Pages 15-15 Summary and discussion of this work....Pages 17-52 Closing remarks....Pages 53-54 Paper 1: Expression levels of the microRNA processing enzymes Drosha and Dicer in epithelial skin cancer....Pages 55-66 Paper 2: Expression levels of the microRNA maturing microprocessor complex component DGCR8 and the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) components argonaute-1, argonaute-2, PACT, TARBP1 and TARBP2 in epithelial skin cancer....Pages 67-79 Paper 3: Expression of microRNAs in basal cell carcinoma....Pages 81-100 Paper 4: Microarray analysis of microRNA expression in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma....Pages 101-126 Paper 5: The miRNA machinery in primary cutaneous malignant melanoma, cutaneous malignant melanoma metastases and benign melanocytic nevi....Pages 127-151 Paper 6: Immunohistochemical expression patterns of the microRNA-processing enzyme Dicer in cutaneous malignant melanomas, benign melanocytic nevi and dysplastic melanocytic nevi....Pages 153-162 Paper 7: Comparative microarray analysis of microRNA expression profiles in primary cutaneous malignant melanoma, cutaneous malignant melanoma metastases and benign melanocytic nevi....Pages 163-209 Paper 8: MicroRNAs and the skin: tiny players in the body’s largest organ....Pages 211-231 Paper 9: microRNA in non-melanoma skin cancer....Pages 233-245