Genetic Relationship Between Endometriosis and Melanoma

Abstract

Epidemiological studies have observed that risk of endometriosis is associated with history of cutaneous melanoma and vice versa. Evidence for shared biological mechanisms between the two traits is limited. The aim of this study was to investigate the genetic correlation and causal relationship between endometriosis and melanoma. Summary statistics from genome-wide association meta-analyses (GWAS) for endometriosis and melanoma were used to estimate the genetic correlation between the traits and Mendelian randomization was used to test for a causal association. When using summary statistics from separate female and male melanoma cohorts we identified a significant positive genetic correlation between melanoma in females and endometriosis (rg = 0.144, se = 0.065, p = 0.025). However, we find no evidence of a correlation between endometriosis and melanoma in males or a combined melanoma dataset. Endometriosis was not genetically correlated with skin color, red hair, childhood sunburn occasions, ease of skin tanning, or nevus count suggesting that the correlation between endometriosis and melanoma in females is unlikely to be influenced by pigmentary traits. Mendelian Randomization analyses also provided evidence for a relationship between the genetic risk of melanoma in females and endometriosis. Colocalization analysis identified 27 genomic loci jointly associated with the two diseases regions that contain different causal variants influencing each trait independently. This study provides evidence of a small genetic correlation and relationship between the genetic risk of melanoma in females and endometriosis. Genetic risk does not equate to disease occurrence and differences in the pathogenesis and age of onset of both diseases means it is unlikely that occurrence of melanoma causes endometriosis. This study instead provides evidence that having an increased genetic risk for melanoma in females is related to increased risk of endometriosis. Larger GWAS studies with increased power will be required to further investigate these associations.