Posts Tagged ‘Genetics’
Vismodegib – A Breakthrough in Basal Cell Carcinoma Treatment
Vismodegib, a Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor, has been recently shown to be highly effective for advanced basal cell carcinoma in Phase II clinical studies. Discovery of the Hedgehog Signaling Pathway is enlightening in how three unrelated basic science research paths can meet at crossroads of cancer treatment breakthrough. First, there were sheep in Idaho in 1957…
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Smoothened and Patched and Sonic Hedgehogs – From Cyclopic Sheep to Targeted Basal Cell Carcinoma Treatment
What does Frizzled, Frazzled, Dishevelled, and Smoothened have to do with the Sonic Hedgehog? These are some of the humorously named genes in Drosophila fruit flies that also happened to be expressed in humans. Besides adding character to the genes, these names occasionally reflect the traits they describe. Hedgehog (Hh) gene is part of the…
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