[Molecullar structure and function of the p16/INK4a/CDKN2/MTS1 and the INK4 family, and their association with...

The p16INK4a was isolated as a gene which binds and inhibits the cyclin-dependent kinase 4. Other laboratories reported that the isolated gene frequently homozygously deleted within chromosome 9p21 was the p16INK4a. The p16INK4a gene was thought be a hot gene like the p53 gene at the time. Nevertheless, the gene was thought to be a false tumor suppressor gene due to the low incidence the alterations of the gene in various surgical tumor samples. Since then, there have been a lot of reports supporting that p16INK4a is a really tumor suppressor gene including the reports on the high incidence of p16INK4a alterations in some kinds of tumors, on the higher incidence of p16INK4a alterations in the metastatic tumors than that of the primary tumors, on the G1 arrest of p16INK4a lack cells transfected with p16INK4a cDNA, and on the inactivation of p16INK4a gene by hypermethylation. Therefore, the p16INK4a gene has become the tumor suppressor gene, lately. Moreover, the INK4 family including p15INK4b, p18INK4c, and p19INK4d was isolated. These reports taken together, p16INK4a and INK4 family might play important roles in the genesis and development of cancer.