Research summary: Treatment of advanced basosquamous carcinoma

This month we touch on an uncommon but important topic – that of locally advanced and metastatic basosquamous cancers.

The paper by Zelin et al reports on a small number of cases treated in their service, and reports a literature review. The authors show how sonic hedgehog pathway inhibitors (HHIs), anti-programmed death 1 receptor antibodies (anti-PD-1), and other treatment approaches involving chemotherapy, surgery, and radiotherapy may be helpful in these patients.

It is worth noting that a similar strategy is used in patients with locally advanced or metastatic BCC, and aspects also apply in SCC.

The key point is that although the large majority of our patients have skin cancers that are quite straightforward to treat, there is a surprising number of patients who do present with locally advanced / metastatic disease, and it is worth knowing that therapies exist that can help.

Read the full paper here.

– Prof David Wilkinson

Interested in skin cancer medicine?

Read another research summary from Prof David Wilkinson: Evidence for national melanoma screening program

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