Differential Risks for Melanoma: p16 and DNA Repair

Inclusion Criteria:

Cases will be patients 18 years or older with a histologically confirmed, second or multiple primary melanoma. These will be sequentially selected from subjects seen at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center or the Yale University Pigmented Lesion Clinic.
Controls will be patients 18 years or older with a histologically confirmed first primary melanoma diagnosed no earlier than 12 months prior to the study start date. One control will be selected per case. These patients will be referred to the study by the Melanoma Disease Management Team at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Controls will be frequency-matched to cases on the basis of sex and age (within 10 year age groups).
Healthy controls will be subjects 18 years or older recruited from the general population through random digit dialing. These subjects will have no history of melanoma. They will also be frequency matched to cases on the basis of sex and 10-year age group.
The subject must have a histologically confirmed malignant melanoma.
Cases may have an in situ melanoma as the second primary.
Melanoma Controls may have only one primary melanoma.
Healthy controls should have no history of melanoma.
The subject's physician consents to his/her patient's participation in the study (if the subject has a diagnosis of melanoma).
The subject has consented, in writing, to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

Karnofsky status less than 60 (see Appendix). This will be evaluated by the physician treating the subject for melanoma at the time permission is given for participation
Patient had chemotherapy or radiation therapy within the last 6 weeks.