USE OF CYCLOPAMINE, AN INDUCER OF THE DIFFERENTIATION AND APOPTOSIS OF THE BASAL CELL CARCINOMA (BCC) CELLS, IN THE TREATMENT OF BCC'S AND OTHER TUMORS THAT USE THE HEDGEHOG/SMOOTHENED PATHWAY FOR PROLIFERATION OF APOPTOSIS

This invention concerns the use of cyclopamine in vivo on basal cell carcinomas to achieve therapeutic effect by causing differentiation of the tumor cells and, at the same time, highly efficient apoptotic death and removal of these tumor cells while preserving the normal tissue cells, including the undifferentiated cells of the normal epidermal basal layer and hair follicles. Causation of apoptosis by cyclopamine is by a non-genotoxic mechanism. These effects make the use of cyclopamine highly desirable in the treatment of basal cell carcinomas and other tumors that use the hedgehog/smoothened signal transduction pathway for proliferation and prevention of apoptosis.