Southern Arizona has among the highest skin cancer rates in the world and the Arizona Cancer Center has an active and unique registry for identification of all skin cancers diagnosed within three southeastern counties of the state. Little is known, however, about the role genetic risk factors have in the etiology of cutaneous melanoma within this region and how genetics and environment, most particularly high ultraviolet exposures, interact. The primary objective of this project is to develop and evaluate a system to routinely identify the family history of newly diagnosed melanoma patients and develop a repository of genetic information for melanoma cases in a defined population. This project proposed to develop the resources and experiences needed prior to proposing a more complex genetic epidemiologic investigation in Arizona of cutaneous malignant melanoma. This two year project proposes to incorporate the collection of family history data for all cutaneous malignant melanoma cases identified by the Southeastern Arizona Skin Cancer Registry. This routine assessment would allow identification from a defined geographic population of potential melanoma families with more than one first-degree relative with melanoma. These cases and families could then be available for recruitment into subsequent, focused genetic studies. We propose to also collect and analyze samples for mutational analyses of the p16INK4/CDK2N gene in a series of select kindreds.
