Oncogenes
Chapters
Lessons on p53 from Mouse Models
Laura D. Attardi*
Mutations in the p53 gene are implicated in the development of at least half of all human cancers, of a wide variety of types.1,2 This high incidence of mutations suggests that there exists a strong selection pressure for p53 inactivation during tumorigenesis. The idea that p53 mutations are impo...
Modes of p53 Interactions with DNA in the Chromatin Context
Vladana Vukojevic, Tatiana Yakovleva and Georgy Bakalkin
The tumor suppressor p53, a sequence-specific transcription factor playing a central role in cancer surveillance, exerts its main functions by activating or repressing transcrip tion of its target genes.1-4 Protein products of several genes activated by p53, including p21, Bax, GADD45, Mdm2, and ...
p53’s Dilemma in Transcription: Analysis by Microarrays
Karuppiah Kannan, Gideon Rechavi and David Givol
Protection against cancer by p53 is due mainly to its activity as a transcription factor. The function of p53 in transactivation of target genes is analyzed here with emphasis on the dilemma between cell growth arrest and apoptosis pathways. The question as to which of these p53 functions is requ...
Regulation of p53 Localization
Tomomi Inoue, Carl G. Maki
The tumor suppressor protein p53 is one of the most intensely studied molecules in modern cancer biology, and with good reason. Inactivating mutations in the p53 gene are observed in over 50% of all human cancers11,12 and in cancers that retain wild-type p53, other defects in the p53 tumor-suppre...
The p53-Mdm2 Loop A Critical Juncture of Stress Response
Zehavit Goldberg, Igal Louria-Hayon, Tamar Grossman, Michael Berger and Ygal Haupt
The presence of a functional p53 protein is a key factor for the proper suppression of cancer development. A loss of p53 activity, by mutations or inhibition, is often associ ated with human malignancies. The p53 protein integrates various stress signals into a growth restrictive cellular respons...
TP53 Mutations in Human Cancers: Selection versus Mutagenesis and Pierre Hainaut
Magali Olivier, Stephanie Courtois, Claude Caron de Fromentel and Pierre Hainaut
TP53 differs from most other cancer-related genes by the very high prevalence of missense mutations which result in the expression of a mutant protein. Considerable variations are observed between mutation patterns from different types of cancer and from different population groups, reflecting bo...
TP63, TP73: The Guardian’s Elder Brothers
Stephanie Courtois, Pierre Hainaut and Claude Caron de Fromentel
TP73 and TP63 recently emerged as sharing overall architectural similarities with TP53. Phylogeny indicates that these three genes derive from a common ancestor, thus defining a new gene family. All three genes bind similar DNA consensus sequences in the promoters of many genes and regulate commo...
Tumor Viruses and p53
Nobuo Horikoshi
Viruses are potent oncogenic agents and are considered to link to approximately one-fifth of all human malignancies. The study of tumor viruses has provided fundamental bases of how normal cells become cancer cells. A number of virus-encoded oncogenes have been identified and their functions were...
