USE OF CYCLOPAMINE, AN INDUCER OF THE DIFFERENTIATION AND APOPTOSIS OF THE BASAL CELL CARCINOMA (BCC) CELLS, IN THE TREATMENT OF BCC'S AND OTHER TUMORS THAT USE THE HEDGEHOG/SMOOTHENED PATHWAY FOR PROLIFERATION OF APOPTOSIS

摘要

This invention concerns the use of cyclopamine in vivo on basal cellcarcinomas to achieve therapeutic effect by causing differentiation of thetumor cells and, at the same time, highly efficient apoptotic death andremoval of these tumor cells while preserving the normal tissue cells,including the undifferentiated cells of the normal epidermal basal layer andhair follicles. Causation of apoptosis by cyclopamine is by a non-genotoxicmechanism. These effects make the use of cyclopamine highly desirable in thetreatment of basal cell carcinomas and other tumors that use thehedgehog/smoothened signal transduction pathway for proliferation andprevention of apoptosis.