Stromal Microenvironment Alterations in Malignant Melanoma

The stromal microenvironment has become recognized as a major factor maintaining physiological functions of the cells and tissue integrity and it sensitively responds to pathological conditions including malignant transformation. The development of an altered stromal microenvironment in response to carcinoma is a common feature of many tumours. Induced stromal changes significantly contribute to malignant cell invasion and cancer progression. The chapter concerns about the most important stromal alterations involved in progression of malignant melanoma. It has been documented that one of the reasons, why melanoma cells escape apoptosis is a result of multicellular nature of the disease, in which melanoma cells are embedded in a tissue microenvironment of multiple cell types.