Abstract

Cutaneous melanoma (CM) is a malignant skin cancer with the high incidence in whiteskinned populations. Host genetic factors (such as: genes in nucleotide excision repair system or cell proliferation regulation system) interacted with ultraviolet radiation are potential reasons for CM. Previous studies about associations between CM and the rs4444903 (+61A>G) in the Epidermal growth factor gene (EGF) or rs13181 (+35931 A>C) in the xeroderma pigmentosum group D gene (XPD) have produced inconsistent results. To clarify these associations, metaanalyses of available candidate case-control association studies about Caucasians were performed. Data of each study were gathered according to the “Quality-Evaluation Score” (Ver.1.0). Finally, the meta-analysis with 2167 cases/4211 controls showed that the EGF rs4444903 had no significant association with CM (p>0.05), while the analysis with 3,492 cases/5,381 controls indicated the A allele of XPD rs13181 was significantly associated with CM (odds ratio= 0.93, 95% CI: 0.87–0.99; p=0.019). These results are also supported with linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure analysis. The current meta-analyses results suggest that the XPD gene, but not the EGF gene, has contributed to CM susceptibility, and XPD is a possible drug target.

Keywords: Cutaneous melanoma, EGF, XPD, SNP.

Graphical Abstract