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Hormonal exposures and the risk of uveal melanoma

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Abstract

Objectives

Several studies suggest that hormonal mechanisms may be associated with the development of uveal melanoma. Therefore, the association between the risk of uveal melanoma and exposure to hormonal exposures was investigated in a case–control study from nine European countries.

Methods

Incident cases of uveal melanoma were frequency-matched to population and hospital controls by country, age, and sex. Female subjects were asked about their reproductive history, use of menopausal hormone replacement therapy and oral contraceptives. Among men, occupational handling of oils while working with transformers or capacitors which contain polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) was solicited. Unconditional logistic regression analyses were calculated, adjusting for several potential confounders. Analyses were stratified by sex.

Results

Two hundred and ninety-three cases (165 men, 128 women) and 3,198 control subjects (2,121 men, 1,077 women) were interviewed. Among women, no associations were observed with hormonal status variables, intake of hormonal therapy or intake of oral contraceptives. Men showed an increased risk with occupational exposure to transformer/capacitor oils (OR = 2.74; Bonferroni-corrected 99.3% CI 1.07–7.02). However, these results were based on few exposed subjects only.

Conclusion

The results of this study do not support the hypothesis of a hormonal influence in the carcinogenesis of uveal melanoma. Our finding of a potentially increased risk with PCB-containing oils requires further research.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge collaboration from patients, control subjects, participating hospitals, and data providers. “Occupational risk factors for rare cancers of unknown aetiology” was supported financially by the European Commission, DGXII, Programme BIOMED, grants no BMH1 CT 93-1630 and ERB CIPD CT 940285, and national funding agencies: Denmark: The strategic Environment Programme, grant no 92.01.015.7-06, and the Danish Epidemiology Science Centre,—the activities of the center are financed by a grant from the Danish National Research Foundation. France: Ligue Nationale contre le cancer, Fédération Nationale des Centres de Lutte contre le Cancer, Fondation de France, contract # 955368, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) contract Réseau en Santé Publique # 4R006A, French Ministry of Environment, contract # 237.01. 94.40182. Germany: Federal Ministry for Education, Science, Research and Technology (BMBF), grant no. 01-HP-684/8. Italy: The Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC), Special Project Oncology, Compagnia di San Paolo/FIRMS, MURST, Region Piedmont. Spain: Fondo de Investigación de la Sanitarie, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, Unidad de Investigación Clinico-Epidemiológica, Hospital Dr. Peset. Generalitat Valenciana (FISS. 95/0044-01, 96/0043-01); Departmento de Sanidad y Consumo, Gobierno Vasco; Fondo de Investigación de la Sanitaria, Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, Ayuda a la Investigación del Departamento de Salud del Gobierno de Navarra. Sweden: Swedish Council for Work Life Research, Research Foundation of the Department of Oncology in Umeå, Swedish Society of Medicine, Lund University Hospital Research Foundation, Gunnar, Arvid and Elisabeth Nilsson Cancer Foundation, Örebro County Council Research Committee, Örebro Medical Center Research Foundation, John and Augusta Persson Foundation for Scientific Medical Research, Berta Kamprad Foundation for Cancer Research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bremen Institute for Prevention Research and Social Medicine, Linzer Str. 10, 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Thomas Behrens & Wolfgang Ahrens

  2. Department of Research and HTA, Center for National Clinical Databases South, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark

    Linda Kaerlev

  3. Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK

    Ian Cree

  4. Department of Epidemiology, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark

    Linda Kaerlev & Svend Sabroe

  5. Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, National Institute for Cancer Epidemiology and Registration (NICER), ISPM Zürich, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Jean-Michel Lutz

  6. Serviço de Oncologia Médica, Instituto Portugues de Oncologia, Porto, Portugal

    Noemia Afonso

  7. Department of Oncology, Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden

    Mikael Eriksson & Lennart Hardell

  8. INSERM Unité 754, Villejuif Cedex, France

    Pascal Guénel

  9. Unit of Cancer Epidemiology, CERMS and CPO, University of Turin, Piemonte, Italy

    Franco Merletti

  10. Department of Preventive Medicine, Unit of Public Health and Environmental Care, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Maria Morales-Suarez-Varela & Agustin Llopis-González

  11. Research Foundation, University Hospital Dr. Peset, Valencia, Spain

    Maria Morales-Suarez-Varela

  12. Latvia Cancer Registry, Riga, Latvia

    Aivars Stengrevics

  13. INSERM Unité 687, Villejuif, France

    Diane Cyr

  14. Research Group CIBER CB06/02/0045, CIBER Actions, Epidemiology and Public Health, Valencia, Spain

    Maria Morales-Suarez-Varela & Agustin Llopis-González

  15. Epidemiology and Public Health; Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology Unit, ISPO Cancer Prevention and Research Institute, Florence, Italy

    Giuseppe Gorini

  16. Department of Oncology, P. Stradin’s Clinical University Hospital, Riga, Latvia

    Galina Sharkova

  17. University Paris-Sud 11, Villejuif, France

    Pascal Guénel & Diane Cyr

Authors
  1. Thomas Behrens
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  2. Linda Kaerlev
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Behrens.

Appendix

Appendix

The European study group on occupational causes of rare cancers

Denmark (Herman Autrup, Henrik Kolstad, Linda Kaerlev, Elsebeth Lynge, Jorn Olsen, Lisbeth Norum Pedersen, Svend Sabroe, Reference pathologists: Preben Johansen, Stein Poulsen, Peter Stubbe Teglbjaerg, Mogens Vyberg). France (Pascal Guénel, Joëlle Févotte and the members of the FRANCIM association: Patrick Arveux, Antoine Buemi, Paule-Marie Carli, Gilles Chaplain, Jean-Pierre Daurès, Jean Faivre, Pascale Grosclaude, Anne-Valérie Guizard, Michel Henry-Amar, Guy Launoy, Francois Ménégoz, Nicole Raverdy, Paul Schaffer). Germany (Wolfgang Ahrens, Cornelia Baumgardt-Elms, Thomas Behrens, Sibylle Gotthardt, Ingeborg Jahn, Karl-Heinz Jöckel, Hiltrud Merzenich, Nils Schmeißer, Andreas Stang, Christa Stegmaier, Antje Timmer, Hartwig Ziegler). Italy (Terri Ballard, Franco Bertoni, Giuseppe Gorini, Sandra Gostinicchi, Giovanna Masala, Enzo Merler, Franco Merletti, Lorenzo Richiardi, Lorenzo Simonato, Paola Zambon). Latvia (Irena Rogovska, Galina Sharkova, Aivars Stengrevics). Lithuania (Jolita Gibaviciene, Laimonas Jazukevicius, Juozas Kurtinaitis, Poma Pociute). Portugal (Noemia Alfonso, Altamiro Costa-Pereira, Sonia Doria, Carlos Lopes, José Manuel Lopes, Ana Miranda, Cristina Santos). Spain (M. Adela Sanz Aguado, Juan J. Aurrekoetxea, Concepción Brun, Alicia Córdoba, Miguel Angel Martínez González, Francisco Guillén Grima, Rosa Guarch, Agustin Llopis González, Blanca Marín, Amparo Marquina, María M. Morales Suárez-Varela, Inés Aguinaga Ontoso, J. M. Martínez Peñuela, Ana Puras, Francisco Vega, Maria Aurora Villanueva Guardia). Sweden (Mikael Eriksson, Lennart Hardell, Irene Larsson, Hakan Olson, Monica Sandström, Gun Wingren). Switzerland Jean-Michel Lutz. United Kingdom (Janine Bell, Ian Cree, Tony Fletcher, Alex JE Foss).

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Behrens, T., Kaerlev, L., Cree, I. et al. Hormonal exposures and the risk of uveal melanoma. Cancer Causes Control 21, 1625–1634 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-010-9591-9

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