This hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that germline mutations of the INK4a-ARF gene have been detected in some MPMs (MacKie et al, 1998; Monzon et al, 1998; Hashemi et al, 2000; Auroy et al, 2001), and could also predispose to other types of cancers, such as pancreatic cancer (Borg et al, 2000), epidermoid carcinoma (Yarbrough et al, 1996), breast cancer (Borg et al, 2000), or multiple myeloma (Dilworth et al, 2000) in melanoma families. Here, CDKN2A is linked to familial pancreatic carcinoma.