Genetics of Skin Cancer (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version

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Changes to This Summary (06/30/2016)

The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Basal Cell Carcinoma

Added text to state that a study on the heritability of cancer among 80,309 monozygotic and 123,382 dizygotic twins showed that nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) have a heritability of 43%, suggesting that almost half of the risk of NMSC is caused by inherited factors; additionally, the cumulative risk of NMSC was 1.9-fold higher for monozygotic than for dizygotic twins (cited Mucci et al. as reference 4).

Revised text to state that Rombo syndrome, a very rare probably autosomal dominant genetic disorder associated with basal cell carcinoma, has been outlined in three case series in the literature. Also added text to state that the genetic basis of Rombo syndrome is not known.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Added text to state that a study on the heritability of cancer among 80,309 monozygotic and 123,382 dizygotic twins showed that NMSCs have a heritability of 43%, suggesting that almost half of the risk of NMSC is caused by inherited factors; additionally, the cumulative risk of NMSC was 1.9-fold higher for monozygotic than for dizygotic twins (cited Mucci et al. as reference 60).

Melanoma

Added text to state that a study on the heritability of cancer among 80,309 monozygotic and 123,382 dizygotic twins showed that melanoma has a heritability of 58%, suggesting that more than half of the risk of melanoma is caused by inherited factors (cited Mucci et al. as reference 67).

This summary is written and maintained by the PDQ Cancer Genetics Editorial Board, which is editorially independent of NCI. The summary reflects an independent review of the literature and does not represent a policy statement of NCI or NIH. More information about summary policies and the role of the PDQ Editorial Boards in maintaining the PDQ summaries can be found on the About This PDQ Summary and PDQ® - NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Database pages.

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