A Model for Genetic Susceptibility: Melanoma

The goal of this study is to find out if some people are more likely to get melanoma, a form of skin cancer, than others are. To do this we will compare people who have had more than one melanoma to people who have had only one melanoma and to people who are similar but who have not developed melanoma. People respond to the environment in different ways. Some may be born with genes that make them more likely to get this type of skin cancer. Each person has many ways to repair normal damage to their genes. Specific genes may affect the repair of sun damage. Other genes affect the way the skin itself reacts to the sun. We want to find out which genes have normal changes in them and lead to different responses to exposures, such as the sun. We also want to find out if sun habits are related to the way these genes work.

The purpose of this study is to better understand genetic susceptibility to melanoma and the interactions of specific polymorphisms with each other and with environmental factors. To accomplish this, buccal swabs or blood specimens from patients with melanoma (either single primary or multiple primary) have been collected. Specimens will be prepared in the Epidemiology Laboratory at MSKCC. They will be analyzed at MSKCC for INK4A (and functional assays for DNA repair capacity when blood is available) and the melanocortin gene (MC1R), at the University of North Carolina for polymorphisms in DNA repair genes and immune function genes, at the University of Pennsylvania for polymorphisms in the melanocortin receptor gene (MC1R) and immune function genes, and at the University of California (Irvine) for polymorphisms in metabolizing genes (P450's and GST's). Samples will be banked at MSKCC and the University of New Mexico. In order to perform this study, subjects from population-based registries in the United States (New Jersey, North Carolina, Michigan, San Diego/Imperial Counties), Canada (Cancer Care Ontario, British Columbia), Italy (Turin), Australia (New South Wales, Tasmania), were interviewed, asked to provide blood or buccal swab samples and asked to provide permission to obtain and review slides of their primary melanoma. This study is now closed to accrual.