title: What dermoscopy tells us about nevogenesis.
abstract: The evolution of nevi is a complex process involving several constitutional and environmental factors. Although histopathology is the gold standard for the diagnosis and classification of melanocytic nevi, the widespread use of in vivo diagnostic technologies such as dermoscopy and more recently of reflectance confocal microscopy, has enriched profoundly our knowledge regarding the morphological variability of nevi in different stages of their evolution. In addition, significant progress has been made in our understanding of genetic alterations and molecular pathways involved in the formation of melanocytic tumors. All this newly acquired knowledge increasingly questions whether morphologically different nevi are also histiogenetically different. In this article, we intend to extract some of the salient points from published clinical and molecular studies on melanocytic tumors and attempt to assimilate them into an integrative concept of nevogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Graz, Graz, Austria. iris.zalaudek@gmail.com
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Zalaudek
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Catricalà
authors.forename: Elvira
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moscarella
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Argenziano
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D046169:Dermoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D009154:Mutation; D009506:Nevus / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / Q000235:genetics; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C482119:BRAF protein, human; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf