Skin cancer
Prof Mike Philpott & Prof Harshad Navsaria
Queen Mary’s School of Medicine & Dentistry
2007 – 2010 Research Assistant
Generation of three-dimensional models of basal cell carcinoma.
Prof Mike Philpott is Professor of Cutaneous Biology and Head of the Centre for Cutaneous Research Group at Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, London.
Prof Harshad Navsaria is Professor of Cell and Tissue Engineering at the Centre for Cutaneous Research Group, Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry, London.
Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the commonest human cancer and is closely associated with sun exposure and ageing. With an increasingly elderly population BCC is likely to become more of a problem in future. Indeed, the prevalence of this cancer will probably be greater than all other cancers combined.
BCC is usually easy to treat if caught early, but it can become dangerous if left untreated. Neglected BCC can spread deeply to cause great destruction, especially around the eye, ear or nose, and may even invade bone and cartilage. Around 5-10% of BCCs are aggressive or resistant to treatment. Treatment may require lengthy plastic surgery reconstructions, causing disfigurement and scarring.
Surprisingly there are no in vitro models of BCC and as a result most research is carried out on mice genetically modified to develop this cancer .The immediate aim of this project is to develop three-dimensional multi-cellular models of human BCC as a viable alternative to animals. This work is being jointly funded by the Dr Hadwen Trust and Quest Cancer Research.
The longer-term objectives of the research are to use this model to understand the biology of sonic hedgehog (SHh) signalling and glioma (Gli) transcription factors in development of BCC. It is also intended that this model will form the basis of understanding of indolent versus aggressive BCC and in particular how downstream mediators of SHh signalling affect cell proliferation, migration and invasion.
Ultimately this model system will drive the development of more complex skin cancers such as squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and melanoma as well as other epithelial cancers in which aberrant SHh signalling has been implicated (including prostate and breast).