皮肤恶性黑素瘤是一种高度恶性的黑素细胞肿瘤,其发病机制、治疗方法的研究已成为国内外皮肤肿瘤研究的热点。自噬是真核细胞在受到有害刺激的情况下所发生的一种适应性生化过程。很早以前就有学者通过电镜观察到黑素细胞疾病中有吞噬细胞的结构。近年来的研究发现,在黑素细胞肿瘤中关于自噬的研究结果大不相同,甚至相反。其原因可能与黑素细胞肿瘤的内在异质性以及使用不同的自噬检测技术有关,不同角度的研究均支持自噬与恶性黑素瘤之间存在着密切的关系,特别是自噬在药物靶向治疗中的作用更为重要。
Cutaneous malignant melanoma is a highly invasive melanoeytic tumor. The pathogenesis and therapy of malignant melanoma have been a hotspot in reseaches on skin tumor worldwide. Autophagy is a cytoprotective metabolic pathway that allows cells to survive under unfavorable conditions. Phagocytic structures have been observed in melanocytic lesions by using electron microscopy many years before. However, the results of many studies on autophagy in melanocytic tumors are contradictive and even opposite, which may be explained by the tumor heterogeneity and differences in methods and markers used for the evaluation of autophagy. In spite of these contradictory results, all the studies suggest that autophagy is closely correlated with melanoma, and autophagy may play important roles in the targeted therapy of melanoma.