Hereditary cutaneous malignant melanoma: a 20-year family update

A family is reported in which 28 members developed cutaneous melanoma. Segregation of the neoplasm suggested an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance but with a sex difference in penetrance and disease expression. Men developed the neoplasm less frequently and at a slightly later age than women and fathers were unaffected carriers more frequently than mothers. Children of affected or carrier fathers developed the disease less frequently than children of affected or carrier mothers. The highest frequency of melanoma occurred in daughters of affected or carrier mothers. Further study of the genetic basis for the development of melanoma is warranted.