Autoimmune Alleles at the Major Histocompatibility Locus Modify Melanoma Susceptibility

Abstract

Autoimmunity and cancer represent two different aspects of immune dysfunction. Autoimmunity is characterized by breakdowns in immune self-tolerance, while impaired immune surveillance can allow for tumorigenesis. The class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC-I), which displays derivatives of the cellular peptidome for immune surveillance by CD8+ T cells, serves as a common genetic link between these conditions. As melanoma-specific CD8+ T-cells have been shown to target melanocyte-specific peptide antigens more often than melanoma-specific antigens, we investigated whether vitiligo and psoriasis predisposing MHC-I alleles conferred a melanoma protective effect. In individuals with cutaneous melanoma from both The Cancer Genome Atlas (N = 451) and an independent validation cohort (N = 586), MHC-I autoimmune allele carrier status was significantly associated with a later age of melanoma diagnosis. Furthermore, MHC-I autoimmune allele carriers were significantly associated with decreased risk of developing melanoma in the Million Veterans Program cohort (OR = 0.962, p = 0.024). Existing melanoma polygenic risk scores (PRS) did not predict autoimmune allele carrier status, suggesting these alleles provide new risk-relevant information. Mechanisms of autoimmune protection were neither associated with improved melanoma-driver mutation association nor improved gene-level conserved antigen presentation relative to common alleles (population frequency > 1%). However, autoimmune alleles showed higher affinity relative to common alleles for particular windows of melanocyte conserved antigens suggesting a potential relationship between antigen processing, binding, and cell-surface presentation. Overall, this study presents evidence that MHC-I autoimmune risk alleles modulate melanoma risk unaccounted for by current PRS.