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Epidemiologic studies have reported inconsistent results regarding an association between Parkinson disease (PD) and cutaneous melanoma (melanoma). Identifying shared genetic architecture between these diseases can support epidemiologic findings and identify common risk genes and biological pathways. Here, we apply polygenic, linkage disequilibrium-informed methods to the largest available case–control, genome-wide association study summary statistic data for melanoma and PD. We identify positive and significant genetic correlation (correlation: 0.17, 95% CI 0.10–0.24; P = 4.09 × 10−06) between melanoma and PD. We further demonstrate melanoma and PD-inferred gene expression to overlap across tissues (correlation: 0.14, 95% CI 0.06 to 0.22; P = 7.87 × 10−04) and highlight seven genes including PIEZO1, TRAPPC2L, and SOX6 as potential mediators of the genetic correlation between melanoma and PD. These findings demonstrate specific, shared genetic architecture between PD and melanoma that manifests at the level of gene expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. Supplementary Tables 3 and 4 are not available with the rest of the supplementary material available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]