What Is Pediatric Melanoma? Clinical and Genomic Features and the Role of Next-Generation Sequencing in Tumor Classification.

Pediatric melanoma is rare and often poses diagnostic challenges because benign and malignant melanocytic tumors in children can share overlapping clinicopathologic features. Epidemiologic and genomic studies have provided important insights into the etiology of pediatric melanocytic tumors and the genetic alterations associated with malignant transformation. This review summarizes environmental, host, and genetic factors associated with the development of the major pediatric melanoma subtypes, including Spitz melanoma, low-cumulative solar damage (superficial spreading) melanoma, melanoma arising in congenital melanocytic nevi, and melanoma arising in blue nevi. It also highlights key molecular biomarkers associated with pediatric melanoma and presents a diagnostic approach to atypical pediatric melanocytic tumors that illustrates how molecular data can be integrated into tumor classification.