How does p53 protect the genome?

By stopping cells with mutated or damaged DNA from dividing, p53 helps prevent the development of tumors. Because p53 is essential for regulating DNA repair and cell division, it has been nicknamed the “guardian of the genome.”

What are the three common mechanisms by which p53 suppresses cancer growth?

p53 is a crucial tumour suppressor that responds to diverse stress signals by orchestrating specific cellular responses, including transient cell cycle arrest, cellular senescence and apoptosis, which are all processes associated with tumour suppression.

What is p53 mechanism?

Activated p53 promotes cell cycle arrest to allow DNA repair and/or apoptosis to prevent the propagation of cells with serious DNA damage through the transactivation of its target genes implicated in the induction of cell cycle arrest and/or apoptosis.

Is TP53 a tumor suppressor gene?

The p53 gene is a type of tumor suppressor gene. Also called TP53 gene and tumor protein p53 gene.

What does p53 do in response to DNA damage?

Activation of p53 in response to DNA damage is associated with a rapid increase in its levels and with an increased ability of p53 to bind DNA and mediate transcriptional activation. This then leads to the activation of a number of genes whose products trigger cell-cycle arrest, apoptosis, or DNA repair.

What is the difference between p53 and TP53?

The TP53 is a gene that instructs the cell to produce tumor protein (p53) ; a vital transcription factor and tumor suppressor. P53 is known as the “guardian of the genome” as it helps in regulating the cell cycle and acts as a tumor suppressor.

How is p53 mutated?

P53 is often mutated in solid tumors, in fact, somatic changes involving the gene encoding for p53 (TP53) have been discovered in more than 50\% of human malignancies and several data confirmed that p53 mutations represent an early event in cancerogenesis.

How does p53 prevent S phase entry?

The increase in the level of active p53 protein leads to an inhibition of entry into S-phase or the induction of apoptosis [2, 11, 12]. Thus, the loss or inactivation of p53 results in the loss of cell-cycle arrest or apoptosis after DNA damage or physiologic stresses.

What kind of cancer gene is TP53?

An inherited TP53 mutation is known as Li-Fraumeni syndrome. Li-Fraumeni syndrome is a rare genetic condition that can increase your risk of certain types of cancers. These cancers include breast cancer, bone cancer, leukemia, and soft tissue cancers, also called sarcomas.

What is the role of p53 in the cell cycle?

p53, also known as TP53 or tumor protein (EC :2.7. 1.37) is a gene that codes for a protein that regulates the cell cycle and hence functions as a tumor suppression. It is very important for cells in multicellular organisms to suppress cancer.

Why are there hotspot mutations in the TP53 gene in human cancers?

This suggests that an enhanced mutation rate plus selection for conservation of a key amino acid drives hotspot mutations in the TP53 gene. It remains possible that several differences in the gain-of-function phenotypes of TP53 alleles are selected for by cancers, giving rise to hotspot mutations.