p53 tagged posts

Finding sheds light on why mutations of the gene p53 are associated with cancer and could lead to new diagnostics or treatments
About half of all tumors have mutations of the gene p53, normally responsible for warding off cancer. Now, UT Southwestern scientists have discovered a new role for p53 in its fight against tumors: preventing retrotransposons, or “jumping genes,” from hopping around the human genome. In cells with missing or mutated p53, the team found, retrotransposons move and multiply more than usual...

Leading organic chemists synthesize fungal molecule capable of reactivating the self-destruct gene in aggressive cancer cells. Cancers cells use a special technique to propagate; they delete their ‘programmed death’ gene through mutation, ‘forget’ to die when their lifetime is over, and continue to grow instead. A research team has developed a method through which a fungal compound capable of rearming the self-destruct gene in certain cancer cells can be artificially produced in marketable quantities, providing a potential cancer therapeutic strategy.

All human body cells have a certain lifespan, during which they perform their essential duties...

Researchers find evidence that genome ‘guardian’ can stimulate cancer. Researchers studying p53, the heralded cancer-fighting ‘guardian of the genome,’ found that the human protein also plays a role in promoting tumors, in addition to suppressing them. They found that the PUMA protein works inside the cell’s mitochondria to switch energy production processes and stimulate cancer growth. Search for a description of “p53” and it becomes clear that this human protein is widely known for its cancer-fighting benefits, leading to its renown as “the guardian of the genome.”

Scientists at the University of Ca...

A model for cooperative control of the p53 pathway by Mdm2 and Mdmx. In the absence of stress signals, the primary function of Mdm2 is to maintain p53 at low levels, whereas Mdmx contributes to the overall inhibition of p53 independently of Mdm2. Mdmx inhibits p53 transcriptional activity, whereas the contribution of Mdm2 to the regulation of p53 transcriptional activity per se is still unclear and a matter of debate

Proteins that bind DNA or RNA are usually put in different categories, but researchers at Umeå University in Sweden and Inserm in France recently showed how p53 protein has the capacity to bind both and how this controls gene expression on the levels of both transcription (RNA synthesis) and mRNA translation (protein synthesis).

The p53 tumour suppressor protein is best known...