Targets for molecular therapy of skin cancer.

Cancers of the skin encompass the first and second most common neoplasms in the United States, epidermal basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), respectively, as well as the melanocytic malignancy, malignant melanoma (MM). Recently identified alterations in the function of specific genes in these cancers provide new potential therapeutic targets. These alterations affect conserved regulators of cellular proliferation and viability, including the Sonic Hedgehog, Ras/Raf, ARF/p53, p16(INK4A)/CDK4/Rb and NF-kappaB pathways. New modalities designed to target these specific proteins may represent promising approaches to therapy of human skin cancers.