Vismodegib Resistance in Basal Cell Carcinoma: Not a Smooth Fit

In this issue of Cancer Cell, two complementary papers by Atwood and colleagues and Sharpe and colleagues show that basal cell carcinomas resistant to the Smoothened (SMO) inhibitor vismodegib frequently harbor SMO mutations that limit drug binding, with mutations at some sites also increasing basal SMO activity. In this issue of Cancer Cell, two complementary papers by Atwood and colleagues and Sharpe and colleagues show that basal cell carcinoma resistant to the Smoothened (SMO) inhibitor vismodegib frequently harbor SMO mutations that limit drug binding, some of which also have increased basal SMO activity.