title: Patched (ptch)-associated preferential expression of smoothened (smoh) in human basal cell carcinoma of the skin.
abstract: The discovery of specific overexpression of a gatekeeper gene, ptch, in basal cell carcinoma (BCC) led to a hypothesis that the human homologue of patched (PTCH) normally functions as a negative regulator of the signaling pathway that is initiated by hedgehogs (HHs) and activated by the human homologue of smoothened (SMOH); however, no evidence for the involvement of smoh and hhs has been provided. Here, we show novel evidence that smoh is also preferentially overexpressed in BCC, together with ptch (P < 0.002), and that Sonic hh was expressed in only some BCCs. Our data, therefore, indicate that such overexpression of smoh may be associated with overexpression or mutation of PTCH and that this overexpression subsequently stimulates the PTCH/SMOH signaling pathway. In an investigation of a possible regulation of ptch and smoh, we demonstrated that expression of exogenous p21WAF1 in immortalized keratinocytes down-regulates both ptch and smoh and that the down-regulation is accompanied by growth arrest, which suggests the involvement of p21WAF1 in regulation of the PTCH/SMOH signaling pathway.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Multistage Carcinogenesis, IARC, WHO, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kallassy
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Toftgård
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ueda
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakazawa
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vorechovský
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamasaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakazawa
mesh_terms: D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000235:genetics*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D005809:Genes, Regulator / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014157:Transcription Factors