Implication of ultraviolet light in the etiology of uveal melanoma: a review
Photochemistry and Photobiology, Vol. 89 Issue 5
Justin D. Mallet1,2,
Sébastien P. Gendron1,2,
Marie-Catherine Drigeard Desgarnier1,2,
Patrick J. Rochette1,2,3, Patrick.rochette at orlo.ulaval.ca
1 Centre de Recherche FRQS du CHU de Québec, Axe Médecine Régénératrice, Hôpital du Saint-Sacrement, Québec, Canada
2 Centre LOEX de l'Université Laval, Québec, Canada
3 Université Laval, Faculté de Médecine, Département d'Ophtalmologie et ORL - chirurgie cervico-faciale, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
Uveal melanoma is the most frequent intraocular cancer and the second most common form of melanoma. It metastasizes in half of the patients and the prognostic is poor. Although ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a proven risk factor for skin melanoma, the role of UV light in the etiology of uveal melanoma is still contradictory. We have compared epidemiological and genetic evidence of the potential role of UV radiation in uveal melanoma with data on cutaneous melanoma. Even though frequently mutated genes in skin melanomas (e.g. BRAF) differ from those found in uveal melanoma (i.e. GNAQ, GNA11), their mutation pattern bears strong similarities. Furthermore, we provide new results showing that RAC1, a gene recently found harboring UV-hallmark mutation in skin melanoma, is also mutated in uveal melanoma. This article aims to review the work done in the last decades in order to understand the etiology of uveal melanoma and discuss new avenues, which shed some light on the potential role of UV exposure in uveal melanoma.
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- UVA wavelengths rather than UVB are preferentially linked to skin melanoma (28-37).
- In the lens of younger humans (<8 years old) the formation of 3-hydroxy kynurenine and its glucoside that absorb 300 to 400 nm UV wavelengths is not completed (72-74)