Increased incidence of bladder cancer,lymphoid leukaemia,and myeloma in a cohort of Queensland melanoma families

Familial cancer risk has been proposed as a shared feature of many cancers, and overall susceptibility is influenced by combinations of low to moderate risk polymorphisms, rare high penetrance germline mutations, and modulation of risk by environmental and genetic factors. Clustering of melanoma occurs in approximately 10 % of families, and an over-representation of additional cancers has been noticed in some ‘melanoma’ families. The degree to which other cancers aggregate in families affected by melanoma has not been well defined. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the risk of cancers other than melanoma in a cohort of 178 ‘intermediate risk’ melanoma families, not selected for specific genetic mutations. Families designated as ‘intermediate risk’ had two first degree relatives (FDRs) affected by melanoma when ascertained between 1982 and 1990, and were followed up over a 33 year period to assess new occurrences of cancer. We included 414 melanoma cases and 529 FDRs, comprising 25,264 person years of observation. Standardised incidence ratios and their 95 % confidence intervals were calculated for all invasive cancers, comparing observed to expected cases of cancer based on age and sex specific incidence rates for the Queensland population. Statistically significant increases were found for bladder cancer in females (observed, 7; expected, 1.99; SIR, 3.52; 95 % CI 1.41–7.25), lymphoid leukaemia in females (observed, 6; expected, 1.75; SIR, 3.43; 95 % CI 1.26–7.46), and myeloma in female melanoma cases (observed, 4; expected, 0.82; SIR, 4.89; 95 % CI 1.33–12.52). Over-representation of bladder cancer, lymphoid leukaemia, and myeloma in females of the cohort may suggest sex-dependent co-modifiers, and it is possible that specific combinations of polymorphisms predispose to certain cancer types.