Roles of sex steroids in skin cancer risk and survival
Principal Investigator
Name
Feng Liu-Smith
Degrees
Ph.D
Institution
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Position Title
Associate Professor
Email
fliusmit@uthsc.edu
About this CDAS Project
Study
PLCO
(Learn more about this study)
Project ID
PLCO-1944
Initial CDAS Request Approval
Jun 24, 2025
Title
Roles of sex steroids in skin cancer risk and survival
Summary
Cutaneous melanoma displays a unique biphasic sex difference along the age axis: young women (<=50 years old) and older men (>50 years old) are at higher than their other sex peers at the same age. Men diagnosed with melanoma at the same stage exhibit significant poorer survival than women after adjusting to various prognostic factors. We hypothesize that the endogenous sex hormones may play a role in melanoma development and survival. Specifically, higher levels of endogenous sex hormone testosterone may be associated with increased risk of cutaneous melanoma. We propose to utilize the PLCO dataset to answer this question, likely through a case-control study design.
Aims
Specific Aim 1: to extract data with melanoma outcome and all individuals with sex hormone measurements; the healthy control individuals with be matched with age and sex;
Specific Aim 2: to determine the association of sex steroid levels with melanoma risk using logistic regression methods. All relevant variables will be included including ethnicity, life style, diet habit (for example, orange juice consumption, which is linked to melanoma risk), education level (approximate for social economic status which is also linked to melanoma risk), occupation, smoking, drinking habit, family history of cancer, BMI, etc).
Aim 3: to determine the association of sex steroid levels with melanoma survival. Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazard methods will be used. The model will be adjusted to prognostic factors when available.
Collaborators
Chi-yang Chiu, associate professor, University of Tennessee Health Science Center