• This retrospective analysis of 1804 melanoma patients from 1998 to 2008 investigated the effect of body mass index (BMI) and C-reactive protein levels on melanoma outcomes. Increased BMI was associated with lower overall and melanoma-specific survival. Increased BMI was also associated with lower overall and melanoma-specific survival when controlling for age, gender, and tumor stage. Elevated C-reactive protein level was an independent predictor of poorer overall survival.
• After adjustment for age, gender, and tumor stage, elevated BMI was associated with poorer melanoma outcomes. The independent predictive value of elevated C-reactive protein levels suggests that systemic inflammation may be involved in the link between obesity and poor melanoma outcomes.

  – Jeffrey Scott, MD

Abstract

Obesity is a known risk factor for cancer development (Arnold et al., 2016, Basen-Engquist and Chang, 2011, Renehan et al., 2015) and death (Calle et al., 2003). Obesity has been associated with an increased risk of developing melanoma in men (Sergentanis et al., 2013) and with thicker primary melanomas (Skowron et al., 2014). The inflammatory adipokine leptin promotes melanoma progression in mice (Amjadi et al., 2011, Brandon et al., 2009, Gogas et al., 2008); elevated leptin levels may predict melanoma sentinel node metastasis (Oba et al., 2016). We hypothesized that elevated body mass index (BMI) is associated with decreased melanoma patient survival through chronic inflammation, as indicated by levels of C-reactive protein (CRP). We also evaluated whether obesity-related genetic variants (single-nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) play a role in melanoma patient outcomes.

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