Beyond the scalpel: targeting hedgehog in skin cancer prevention.

This perspective places the article by Tang et al. in this issue of the journal (beginning on page 25) in the context of recent work defining the hedgehog signaling pathway as a central etiologic factor and as a therapeutic target in basal cell cancer. Tang et al. show that inhibition of cyclooxygenase activity, either genetically (in a relevant mouse model) or pharmacologically (in the mouse and in patients highly predisposed to develop basal cell skin cancers), may suppress basal cell carcinogenesis. This new study of cyclooxygenase inhibition, together with recent data on the efficacy of hedgehog pathway inhibition, offers new hope for patients at a high risk for basal cell cancer.