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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Yeast As a Chassis for Developing Functional Assays to Study Human P53
Published on: August 4, 2019
Tumor suppression and normal aging in mice with constitutively high p53 activity
Susan M Mendrysa1, Kathleen A O'Leary, Matthew K McElwee
1Department of Oncology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 53706, USA.
Abstract:
The p53 inhibitor murine double-minute gene 2 (Mdm2) is a target for potential cancer therapies, however increased p53 function can be lethal. To directly address whether reduced Mdm2 function can inhibit tumorigenesis without causing detrimental side effects, we exploited a hypomorphic murine allele of mdm2 to compare the effects of decreased levels of Mdm2 and hence increased p53 activity on tumorigenesis and life span in mice. Here we report that mice with decreased levels of Mdm2 are resistant to tumor formation yet do not age prematurely, supporting the notion that Mdm2 is a promising target for cancer therapeutics.
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