Incidence and metastasis of cutaneous malignant melanoma with respect to ABO blood groups: a case-controlled study in northeast of China.

• Main Authors: Liang Chang, Junrui Pei, Chenlong Li, Ping Zhang, Dan Zhou, Wenzhong Du, Xing Liu, Chuanlu Jiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-01-01
• Series: PLoS ONE
• Online Access: http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3917876?pdf=render

BACKGROUND: ABO blood groups have been suggested to contribute to the development of certain tumors; however, the associations between ABO blood groups and the incidence and metastases of cutaneous malignant melanomas have not been fully evaluated in Chinese populations. Thus, we investigated these associations with a case-controlled study in northeast of China. METHODS: A total of 482 patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma and 3,068 healthy- controls were enrolled for the study between 2001 and 2012 at The Tumor Hospital of Harbin Medical University. A multivariate logistic model was used to evaluate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the incidence and metastases of cutaneous malignant melanoma. RESULTS: Blood type A individuals had higher tumor incidence and metastasis compared to those with blood type O (OR = 1.575; 95% CI = 1.208-2.053, p = 0.001; OR = 2.004; 95% CI = 1.032-3.889, p = 0.040), after adjusting for age, gender, smoking status and alcohol consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Blood type A was associated with higher incidence and metastasis of cutaneous malignant melanoma but future studies are needed to examine the mechanisms linking cutaneous malignant melanoma to ABO blood types.