TP53

The p53 transcription factor is mutated or inactivated in most cancers to circumvent its diverse tumor suppressive functions. p53 becomes activated downstream of a range of cellular stresses to induce diverse transcriptional programs. Canonically activation of acute DNA damage results in growth suppression by inducing cell cycle arrest to enable DNA repair or if damage is insurmountable induces senescence or cell death. Genomic and transcriptomic analyses are rapidly advancing our understanding of the diverse signaling network regulated directly and indirectly downstream of p53, their relative contribution to tumor suppression and how we might exploit p53 deregulation to treat cancer.