How Targeted Therapy Works for Basal Cell Carcinoma
Sometimes referred to as precision medicine or personalized medicine, the goal of targeted therapy is to match people with treatments that are more likely to work for their specific situation.
“Targeted therapy for cancer is treatment to attack specific genetic changes or mutations in the patient’s cancer cells,” says Eric Whitman, MD, the system medical director of Atlantic Health System Cancer Care in Morristown, New Jersey. “It blocks or otherwise kills the cancer cells, ideally without causing any toxicity to normal cells or organs. The type of targeted therapy depends on the type of tumor and any genetic tests that may have been done for that specific cancer in that patient.”
Targeted therapy for BCC is aimed at blocking specific signals within and between cells that lead to uncontrolled cell and tumor growth.
Hedgehog Pathway
“In BCC, changes within the cancer cells can cause the hedgehog pathway to stay overly active,” says Dr. Lewin. “This pathway normally helps regulate cell growth, but when it becomes overactive, it can contribute to the growth of the cancer.”
How Targeted Therapy Differs From Other Systemic Therapies
“The main difference is how each treatment attacks cancer,” says Naiara Abreu Fraga Braghiroli, MD, PhD, the chief of the Skin Cancer Clinic at Baptist Health Herbert Wertheim Cancer Institute in Miami. “Each treatment has a different mechanism, and choosing the right one depends on the tumor, the patient’s health, and our treatment goals.”
Targeted therapy is more specific. “Instead of attacking rapidly dividing cells broadly, it blocks a particular molecular pathway that the tumor depends on for growth,” she says.
