Molecular pathology and potential therapeutic targets in esophageal basaloid
squamous cell carcinoma
#MMPMID26045734
Saito T
; Mitomi H
; Yao T
Int J Clin Exp Pathol
2015[]; 8
(3
): 2267-73
PMID26045734
show ga
Basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSCC) is a rare and poorly differentiated
variant of typical squamous cell carcinoma. Emerging studies show that genetic
alterations are more frequent in BSCC than in conventional SCC, and some of which
led to the identification of potential therapeutic targets in esophageal BSCC.
Approximately half of the esophageal BSCC cases harbor either an EGFR mutation or
amplification, and these occur in a mutually exclusive fashion. Therefore, the
application of tyrosine kinase inhibitors may be beneficial to esophageal BSCC
patients. This tumor is partly characterized by the activation of the Wnt and
Hedgehog (HH) signaling pathways. Wnt signaling is activated by SFRP2 promoter
hypermethylation and HH signaling is activated by the frequent mutations in
PTCH1. Increasing evidence shows that the Wnt signaling pathway is involved in
cross-talk with other developmental pathways, including the HH pathway.
Therefore, pharmaceutical therapy targeting both the HH and Wnt pathways would be
quite effective in patients with esophageal BSCC with highly malignant potential.
In this review, we discuss the pathology, prognostic factors, genetic alterations
and potential therapeutic targets in BSCC of esophagus.
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