Abstract
Parkinson’s disease is associated with an increased risk of melanoma (and vice versa). Several hypotheses underline this link, such as pathways affecting both melanin and neuromelanin. For the first time, the fluorescence of melanin and neuromelanin is selectively accessible using a new method of nonlinear spectroscopy, based on a stepwise two-photon excitation. Cutaneous pigmentation and postmortem neuromelanin of Parkinson patients were characterized by fluorescence spectra and compared with controls. Spectral differences could not be documented, implying that there is neither a Parkinson fingerprint in cutaneous melanin spectra nor a melanin-associated fingerprint indicating an increased melanoma risk. Our measurements suggest that Parkinson’s disease occurs without a configuration change of neuromelanin. However, Parkinson patients displayed the same dermatofluorescence spectroscopic fingerprint of a local malignant transformation as controls. This is the first comparative retrospective fluorescence analysis of cutaneous melanin and postmortem neuromelanin based on nonlinear spectroscopy in patients with Parkinson’s disease and controls, and this method is a very suitable diagnostic tool for melanoma screening and early detection in Parkinson patients. Our results suggest a non-pigmentary pathway as the main link between Parkinson’s disease and melanoma, and they do not rule out the melanocortin-1-receptor gene as an additional bridge between both diseases.
Highlights
The available epidemiological data regarding a possible association between cutaneous malignant melanoma (MM) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) show a two-way relationship
Several other authors discussed an association between PD and MM due to melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) variants [3,7], and most recent results relating to the role of MC1R in dopaminergic neurons led to the conclusion that MC1R may represent a common pathogenic pathway for MM and PD [8]
The results presented here are based on the retrospective analysis of such melanin fluorescence spectra from pigmented lesions of 14 PD patients
Summary
The available epidemiological data regarding a possible association between cutaneous malignant melanoma (MM) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) show a two-way relationship. Patients with PD have significantly higher risk for MM [1,2,3], while, on the other hand, patients with MM carry an increased risk of PD [1,3]. Specific MC1R variants may predispose to both MM and PD [4,5]. There are indications in relevant literature that loss-of-function MC1R variants, which result in disturbed melanogenesis, are associated with higher risk of developing MM [6]. Several other authors discussed an association between PD and MM due to MC1R variants [3,7], and most recent results relating to the role of MC1R in dopaminergic neurons led to the conclusion that MC1R may represent a common pathogenic pathway for MM and PD [8]
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