[P53 and cancers]

The p53 gene, located on chromosome 17p 13.1 and coding for a nuclear 393 amino-acids phosphoprotein acts to constrain or antagonize cell growth, and as such, is a tumor suppressor gene. In fact, inactivation of p53 tumor suppressor gene is a common event in the development of all or most types of human cancers. About half of cell cancer cases analysed thus far involve missense mutation of one p53 allele combined with the deletion of the second allele, and many of the remaining cases involve a functional inactivation of p53 protein through non mutational mechanisms. The importance of p53 as an inherited cancer susceptibility gene has been demonstrated in Li-Fraumeni syndrome. In some circumstances, it has been shown that in response to DNA damage, the p53 level in the cell increases considerably and induces a cell growth arrest late in G1 phase. This cycle arrest allows the altered DNA to be repaired before entry of the cell into S phase. This function of p53 helps to insure the genomic stability of the cell. Mutations in p53 eliminate this response and result in enhanced frequency of genomic rearrangements. In other circumstances wild type p53 may act by triggering cell death by apoptosis. The p53 protein exerts its physiological functions through various biochemical activities. These include its ability to be a site-specific transcriptional transactivator as well as a repressor of transcription. The oncoproteins derived from several oncogenic DNA viruses including SV40 large T antigen, the adenovirus E1B protein, and papillomavirus E6 protein, as well as specific cellular gene products e.g. mdm2 form complexes with the p53 protein, causing its inactivation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)