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Pharmacologic Induction of Epidermal Melanin and Protection Against Sunburn in a Humanized Mouse Model
Published on: September 7, 2013
Environmental exposure to trace elements and risk of cutaneous melanoma
Marco Vinceti1, Stefania Bassissi, Carlotta Malagoli
1Department of Hygiene, Microbiology and Biostatistics, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41100 Modena, Italy. marco.vinceti@unimore.it
Purpose:
Our aim was to examine the risk of melanoma in association with exposure to trace elements of toxicological and nutritional interest.
Methods:
We analyzed the concentrations of cadmium, lead, chromium, selenium, copper and zinc in toenails of 58 patients with newly diagnosed cutaneous melanoma as well as in 58 age- and sex-matched control subjects, randomly selected from the population of Modena province in northern Italy.
Results:
Melanoma risk was substantially unrelated to toenail levels of cadmium, chromium, lead and selenium. Subjects with higher toenail copper levels showed an excess risk, both in the crude analysis and after adjusting for sun exposure and level of education, while in both analyses high iron concentrations were associated with a decreased risk of the disease. A weak direct association between zinc levels and melanoma risk also emerged in the multivariate analysis.
Conclusions:
Overall, these results do not suggest an involvement of heavy metals in melanoma etiology, while they do give some support to a possible role of zinc and, in particular, copper and iron exposure in influencing disease risk. However, these findings must be evaluated with caution due to the limited statistical stability of the point estimates.
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