Melanocortin 1 receptor variants and skin cancer risk
Corresponding Author
Jiali Han
Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Fax: +617-525-2008
Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USASearch for more papers by this authorPeter Kraft
Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Search for more papers by this authorGraham A. Colditz
Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Search for more papers by this authorJason Wong
Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Search for more papers by this authorDavid J. Hunter
Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jiali Han
Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Fax: +617-525-2008
Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 181 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USASearch for more papers by this authorPeter Kraft
Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Search for more papers by this authorGraham A. Colditz
Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Search for more papers by this authorJason Wong
Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Search for more papers by this authorDavid J. Hunter
Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene variants are associated with red hair and fair skin color. We assessed the associations of common MC1R genotypes with the risks of 3 types of skin cancer simultaneously in a nested case–control study within the Nurses' Health Study (219 melanoma, 286 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), and 300 basal cell carcinoma (BCC) cases, and 873 controls). We found that the 151Cys, 160Trp and 294His variants were significantly associated with red hair, fair skin color and childhood tanning tendency. The MC1R variants, especially the 151Cys variant, were associated with increased risks of the 3 types of skin cancer, after controlling for hair color, skin color and other skin cancer risk factors. Carriers of the 151Cys variant had an OR of 1.65 (95% CI, 1.04–2.59) for melanoma, 1.67 (1.12–2.49) for SCC and 1.56 (1.03–2.34) for BCC. Women with medium or olive skin color carrying 1 nonred hair color allele and 1 red hair color allele had the highest risk of melanoma. A similar interaction pattern was observed for red hair and carrying at least 1 red hair color allele on melanoma risk. We also observed that the 151Cys variant contributed additional melanoma risk amongred-haired women. The information on MC1R status modestly improved the risk prediction; the increase was significant for melanoma and BCC (p, 0.004 and 0.05, respectively). These findings indicated that the effects of the MC1R variants on skin cancer risk were independent from self-reported phenotypic pigmentation. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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