Serum dehydroepiandrosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and risk of melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma of the skin.
Anticancer research
confidence
Key findings
No association between physiological serum DHEA/DHEAS levels and subsequent risk of melanoma or squamous cell skin cancer.
View source on PubMed (PMID 11911290) ↗
- Sample size
- 23 melanoma cases, 28 squamous cell carcinoma cases, 1-2 matched controls per case
- Population
- Residents of Washington County, Maryland, USA; cases with melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma and matched controls
- Dosing
- N/A (observational serum concentrations)
- Duration
- Serum stored in 1974, prediagnostic nested case-control study
- Route
- N/A
- Blinding
- not_reported
- Controls
- not_reported
- Drug class
- adrenal hormone
Measured endpoints
- Risk of malignant melanoma by serum DHEA/DHEAS concentrationNo changecancernot_significant
- Risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin by serum DHEA/DHEAS concentrationNo changecancernot_significant
Full abstract
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its analogs have potent chemoprotective actions in mouse skin tumorigenesis models. To assess this association in humans, we investigated the relationship of prediagnostic serum concentrations of DHEA and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) to the subsequent risk of developing malignant melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma of the skin in residents of Washington County, Maryland, USA. In a nested case-control study, serum that had been stored in 1974 was thawed and assayed for DHEA and DHEAS for 23 cases of malignant melanoma and 28 cases of squamous cell carcinoma and 1-2 matched controls per case. The mean serum concentrations of DHEA or DHEAS were similar in cases and controls. There were no statistically significant trends in the risk of developing malignant melanoma or squamous cell skin cancer by concentration of either steroid (all p-for-trends >0.30). The results of this study do not support the hypothesis that physiological concentrations of DHEA or DHEAS protect against skin cancer in humans.