Research Update: Clinician-Scientist Award allows researcher to uncover novel pathway that makes common skin cancer more aggressive

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common cancer in Canada. While most cases are highly treatable, a small proportion become advanced, leading to significant tissue damage, disfigurement, and, in rare cases, cancer spread. Despite its prevalence, the biological drivers behind aggressive BCC have remained poorly understood—limiting options for patients with the most severe forms of the disease.

In 2022, Dr. Philippe Lefrançois set out to change that, thanks to funding support from a Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network (MOHCCN) Clinician-Scientist Award. Over the span of three years, this funding enabled his team to apply advanced genomic and cellular profiling techniques to patient tumour samples, creating a detailed map of the cells and molecular pathways that define advanced BCC. In doing so, the project uncovered new gene networks linked to disease progression and opened the door to testing targeted therapies already in use for other cancers.

Now that his project has concluded, we caught up with Dr. Lefrançois to learn more aboutthe impact of this funding, how these discoveries are advancing precision oncology and what they could mean for patients facing advanced BCC.

MOHCCN: How would you describe the original objectives of your project?

Dr. Lefrançois: Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC), a skin cancer, is the most common cancer in Canada. While the disease is highly treatable, about 1-2% of Canadians with BCC experience more advanced cancer. We searched for new molecules in the cancer itself and new cells around the cancer that can explain why some people have more aggressive disease that leads to worse outcomes and to cancer spread.

What were you able to achieve through this project? How did funding from the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network help you achieve these goals? 

We created a roadmap of cells and molecules that are unique to advanced BCC. We identified a new series of genes linked to more aggressive disease that regulate cell growth and skin pigmentation by sending specific signals. Funding from MOHCCN helped me to study pieces of skin cancers from patients to generate very precise data to discover these maps and that special gene pathway, and to get a person who can analyze these complicated data.

How are these findings helping to advance precision medicine for cancer? What potential impact could they have on patients?

Before this project, we only knew one main series of genes that caused more aggressive BCC, but no drug exists against it. Now that we’ve discovered a new pathway, we can test the use of more precise drugs that are already being used for other cancers to see if these can save not only patients’ lives, but organs often destroyed by advanced BCC, like eyes, nose, and other parts of the face. Since these genes are implicated in pigmentation, we will look in the future at Canadians with BCC who have darker skin to see if their cancer depends more on these molecules.

How has funding from the Network helped advance your career as a clinician-scientist? Has becoming part of the Network helped open new opportunities?

Funding from MOHCCN really kickstarted my career. It provided me with the opportunity to move my lab to a bigger lab space, to recruit bright and motivated women (who won scholarships and oral presentation prizes at national and international conferences) as graduate students, and to acquire cutting-edge machines for precision medicine for cancer. Being part of the Network made me realize that other colleagues tackle similar challenges in other organs than the skin so we can discuss practical solutions together. I also got life-changing mentorship and advice from amazing cancer researchers from coast to coast.