Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common malignancy.,Exposure to sunlight is the most important risk factor.,Most, if not all, cases of BCC demonstrate overactive Hedgehog signaling.,A variety of treatment modalities exist and are selected based on recurrence risk, importance of tissue preservation, patient preference, and extent of disease.,The pathogenesis, epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, histopathology, and management of BCC will be discussed in this review.
We sequenced 8 melanoma exomes to identify novel somatic mutations in metastatic melanoma.,Focusing on the MAP3K family, we found that 24% of melanoma cell lines have mutations in the protein-coding regions of either MAP3K5 or MAP3K9.,Structural modelling predicts that mutations in the kinase domain may affect the activity and regulation of MAP3K5/9 protein kinases.,The position of the mutations and loss of heterozygosity of MAP3K5 and MAP3K9 in 85% and 67% of melanoma samples, respectively, together suggest that the mutations are likely inactivating.,In vitro kinase assay shows reduction in kinase activity in MAP3K5 I780F and MAP3K9 W333X mutants.,Overexpression of MAP3K5 or MAP3K9 mutant in HEK293T cells reduces phosphorylation of downstream MAP kinases.,Attenuation of MAP3K9 function in melanoma cells using siRNA leads to increased cell viability after temozolomide treatment, suggesting that decreased MAP3K pathway activity can lead to chemoresistance in melanoma.