Basal cell carcinomas: attack of the hedgehog

By E. Epstein. Nature Reviews. Cancer, 2008

821 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Basal cell carcinomas (BCCs) were essentially a molecular 'black box' until some 12 years ago, when identification of a genetic flaw in a rare subset of patients who have a great propensity to develop BCCs pointed to aberrant Hedgehog signalling as the pivotal defect leading to formation of these tumours. This discovery has facilitated a remarkable increase in our understanding of BCC carcinogenesis and has highlighted the carcinogenic role of this developmental pathway when aberrantly activated in adulthood. Importantly, a phase 1 first-in-human trial of a Hedgehog inhibitor has shown real progress in halting and even reversing the growth of these tumours.

Subfields: Dermatology, Genetics, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/24ba0f7e0afd82607e7d42da1b2a072915c0d7b9

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In Genetics

1. humAn cArcinogens
2. Iarc Monographs
3. peRsonAl hAbIts

Citations in the corpus

• iArc monogrAphs on the evAluAtion oF cArcinogenic risks to humAns (2012, background): “This syndrome is associated with mutations in the Patched (PTCH) gene, an essential component in Hedgehog signalling (Epstein, 2008).”
• Integrated analysis of multimodal single-cell data (2020, neutral): “As basal cells in the skin are continually replenished (Epstein, 2008), cells that exhibit a primed chromatin state preceding transcriptomic shifts may differ in their proliferative and regenerative potential.”