Loss of 5-hydroxymethycytosine: enhancing precision in the diagnosis and prognosis of cutaneous malignant melanoma

The term ‘melanoma’ is derived from the Greek term ‘melas’, meaning ‘dark’, and ‘oma’, referring to tumor. Since its original, vivid, post-mortem 18^th century descriptions, wherein “fatal black (tumors) with metastases and black fluid in the body” were observed at autopsy, melanoma remains one of the most virulent of all human malignancies and a persistent threat to public health (1).