title: Vitamin D receptor polymorphisms and survival in patients with cutaneous melanoma: a population-based study.
abstract: Factors known to affect melanoma survival include age at presentation, sex and tumor characteristics. Polymorphisms also appear to modulate survival following diagnosis. Result from other studies suggest that vitamin D receptor (VDR) polymorphisms (SNPs) impact survival in patients with glioma, renal cell carcinoma, lung, breast, prostate and other cancers; however, a comprehensive study of VDR polymorphisms and melanoma-specific survival is lacking. We aimed to investigate whether VDR genetic variation influences survival in patients with cutaneous melanoma. The analysis involved 3566 incident single and multiple primary melanoma cases enrolled in the international population-based Genes, Environment, and Melanoma Study. Melanoma-specific survival outcomes were calculated for each of 38 VDR SNPs using a competing risk analysis after adjustment for covariates. There were 254 (7.1%) deaths due to melanoma during the median 7.6 years follow-up period. VDR SNPs rs7299460, rs3782905, rs2239182, rs12370156, rs2238140, rs7305032, rs1544410 (BsmI) and rs731236 (TaqI) each had a statistically significant (trend P values < 0.05) association with melanoma-specific survival in multivariate analysis. One functional SNP (rs2239182) remained significant after adjustment for multiple testing using the Monte Carlo method. None of the SNPs associated with survival were significantly associated with Breslow thickness, ulceration or mitosis. These results suggest that the VDR gene may influence survival from melanoma, although the mechanism by which VDR exerts its effect does not seem driven by tumor aggressiveness. Further investigations are needed to confirm our results and to understand the relationship between VDR and survival in the combined context of tumor and host characteristics.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Orlow
authors.forename: Anne S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Reiner
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA.
authors.forename: Nancy E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Pampa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: Department of Cancer Epidemiology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL 33612, USA.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Kanetsky
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paine
authors.affiliation: Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Bruce K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Armstrong
authors.affiliation: Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kricker
authors.affiliation: Prevention and Cancer Control, Cancer Care Ontario, Toronto, Ontario M5G 2L7, Canada.
authors.forename: Loraine D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Marrett
authors.affiliation: Piedmont Cancer Registry, Centre for Epidemiology and Prevention in Oncology in Piedmont, Turin 10126, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rosso
authors.affiliation: Piedmont Cancer Registry, Centre for Epidemiology and Prevention in Oncology in Piedmont, Turin 10126, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zanetti
authors.affiliation: USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA.
authors.forename: Stephen B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, School of Medicine, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92617, USA.
authors.forename: Hoda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Anton-Culver
authors.affiliation: Cancer Control Research, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z 1L3, Canada.
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.affiliation: The George Institute for Global Health, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3BD, UK and.
authors.forename: Terence
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dwyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Busam
authors.forename: Colin B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Begg
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA.
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berwick
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006239:Haplotypes; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol / Q000235:genetics*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol; C579457:VDR protein, human