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Hedgehog in Wnterland

Nature Genetics volume 40, pages 1040–1041 (2008)Cite this article

Hedgehog signaling has a key role in hair follicle development, as well as in induction of the most common cancer in individuals of European descent, basal cell carcinoma (BCC). A new study shows that BCCs strongly resemble embryonic hair follicles and that BCC induction requires active Wnt/β-catenin signaling.

The skin and associated appendages provide central functions to the organism, including protection against physical, chemical and microbiological insults, temperature regulation, and control of water balance. At the same time, because of its frequent exposure to environmental insults, the skin is the most common site for development of tumors, including melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and BCC, the latter being the most common cancer in individuals of European ancestry. The identification of activating mutations in components of the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway in individuals with nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome (NBCCS) revealed the role of constitutively active Hh signaling in familial, as well as sporadic, BCCs1,2,3. On the basis of similarities in morphology, it had long been suspected that a close relationship existed between hair follicles and BCCs, and it was therefore no surprise that Hh signaling was also found to have a key role in both embryonic hair follicle development and adult hair follicle growth4,5,6,7. This dual role of Hh signaling is one of the best examples of the connection between pathways governing development and signals driving tumor formation.

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Figure 1: Comparison of signaling events in basal cell carcinoma cells and hair follicle buds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dennis Roop is Director of the Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Biology Program, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado 80045, USA.,

    Dennis Roop

  2. Rune Toftgård is in the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Huddinge SE-141 57, Sweden. dennis.roop@uchsc.edu,

    Rune Toftgård

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  1. Dennis Roop
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  2. Rune Toftgård
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Roop, D., Toftgård, R. Hedgehog in Wnterland. Nat Genet 40, 1040–1041 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng0908-1040

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