Charcot-Marie-tooth disease and multiple malignant melanomas: a case report.

[Guest guest]

J Drugs Dermatol. 2010 Feb;9(2):164-6.

Charcot-Marie-tooth disease and multiple malignant melanomas: a case report.

Saini R, Lehrhoff S, Sarnoff DS.

New York University, Department of Dermatology, New York, NY, USA.

The incidence of malignant melanoma has reached more than 62,000 people this

past year alone. Much is unknown about the genetic predisposition of this

cancer. The authors present a 62-year-old woman with a history of

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMTD), diagnosed at age five, who has also

developed multiple primary cutaneous malignant melanomas since 2003. The patient

presented to the authors' clinic with a pigmented lesion on the left thigh,

which was increasing in size and changing color. The patient was diagnosed with

malignant melanoma in situ on biopsy. As both CMTD and malignant melanoma are

neural crest derived disorders, this may suggest a shared underlying genetic

defect. A gene locus of particular interest is 1p36, both previously recognized

in the proposed pathogenesis of CMTD and malignant melanoma (MM).