Background: Untreated actinic keratosis can advance to squamous cell carcinoma, which in turn is associated with a risk of metastasis. Current treatments for actinic keratosis have many shortcomings. This communication describes the efficacy and safety of a topical cream therapy, CuradermBEC5, containing solasodine glycosides (0.005%) for actinic keratosis.Methods: Randomly assigned patients with actinic keratosis on the face, trunk or extremities received so-lasodine glycosides cream (CuradermBEC5) or placebo (vehicle) that was self-applied to the lesions and covered with an occlusive dressing (micropore) twice daily for 3 consecutive days. Complete clearance and local reactions were as-sessed at 56 days with follow-up periods of 6 months and 1 year. Results: The rate of complete clearance at day 56 was higher with solasodine glycosides than with placebo (92% vs. 38%, P < 0.001). The absolute success rates after 1 year follow-up were 82% for solasodine glycosides and 18% for placebo. No differences in local reactions were obtained when solasodine glycosides and placebo were compared. Local reactions in both groups peaked at days 2 and 3 with local pain as the major event. The pain associated with treatments lasted approximately 10 minutes after application of solasodine %K Solasodine Glycosides %K Solamargine %K Solasonine %K Actinic Keratosis %K Apoptosis %K Skin Cancer %K Clinical Trial %K Curaderm< %K sup> %K BEC5< %K /sup> %U http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=29980