Clinical and histopathological features of malignant melanoma in germline CDKN2A mutation families

Primary cutaneous malignant melanomas (CMMs) from 26 individuals belonging to nine families with an identified CDKN2A mutation were clinically and histopathologically compared with 78 matched CMM controls and with a population-based series of CMMs (n=667). All tumours were histopathologically re-examined. CDKN2A-associated cases were significantly less invasive compared with the matched controls, with an adjusted odds ratio (adjOR) of 2.9 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.0-8.1 (P=0.04). According to the odds ratio (OR) values, CDKN2A-associated cases seemed to have tumours more often located on the head and neck (adjOR 2.9, 95% CI 0.6-13.7), with less inflammation (adjOR 0.7, 95% CI 0.3-1.8) and regression (adjOR 0.6, 95% CI 0.2-1.8) but more frequent histological ulceration (adjOR 1.9, 95% CI 0.6-5.8). In comparison with the population-based material, CDKN2A-associated cases were significantly younger at diagnosis (crude OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.6-7.5, divided at 50 years) and had less regressive reaction in their tumours (crude OR 0.355 95% CI 0.2-0.8). No significant differences were seen for tumour thickness between the different groups. On multivariate analysis, the overall survival was significantly worse for thicker tumours and older age (P=0.04 for both). To our knowledge this is the first description of the histopathological features of CMMs from families with mutations in the CDKN2A gene. (C) 2002 Lippincott Williams Wilkins.