Constitutive Hedgehog/GLI2 signaling drives extracutaneous basaloid squamous cell carcinoma development and bone remodeling.

ABSTRACT: Uncontrolled activation of the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway, operating through GLI transcription factors, plays a central role in the pathogenesis of cutaneous basal cell carcinoma and contributes to the development of several malignancies arising in extracutaneous sites. We now report that K5-tTA;tetO-Gli2 bitransgenic mice develop distinctive epithelial tumors within their jaws. These tumors consist of large masses of highly proliferative, monomorphous, basaloid cells with scattered foci of keratinization and central necrosis, mimicking human basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (BSCC), an aggressive upper aerodigestive tract tumor. Like human BSCC, these tumors express epidermal basal keratins and differentiation-specific keratins within squamous foci. Mouse BSCCs express high levels of

SUBMITTER: Grachtchouk M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8374060 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature