The combined 10q22.3 linkage peak is 1.2 Mb from a previously implicated candidate gene SFTPA2. This peak also contains a strongly associated SNP rs1437803 (Additional file 2, P-value 0.0005, rank 5), which is 513 kb from SFTPA2. The human surfactant protein A (SP-A) is expressed in the Eustachian tube, plays a role in innate host defense, upregulates phagocytosis of many OM risk pathogens (including Streptococus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and respiratory syncytial virus), and consists of two very similar functional genes SFTPA1 and SFTPA2 located 5 kb apart on chromosome 10. Here, SFTPA2 is linked to ocular melanoma.