EntrezGeneSummary | Thisgeneencodestumorproteinp53,whichrespondstodiversecellularstressestoregulatetargetgenesthatinducecellcyclearrest,apoptosis,senescence,DNArepair,orchangesinmetabolism.p53proteinisexpressedatlowlevelinnormalcellsandatahighlevelinavarietyoftransformedcelllines,whereit"sbelievedtocontributetotransformationandmalignancy.p53isaDNA-bindingproteincontainingtranscriptionactivation,DNA-binding,andoligomerizationdomains.Itispostulatedtobindtoap53-bindingsiteandactivateexpressionofdownstreamgenesthatinhibitgrowthand/orinvasion,andthusfunctionasatumorsuppressor.Mutantsofp53thatfrequentlyoccurinanumberofdifferenthumancancersfailtobindtheconsensusDNAbindingsite,andhencecausethelossoftumorsuppressoractivity.Alterationsofthisgeneoccurnotonlyassomaticmutationsinhumanmalignancies,butalsoasgermlinemutationsinsomecancer-pronefamilieswithLi-Fraumenisyndrome.Multiplep53variantsduetoalternativepromotersandmultiplealternativesplicinghavebeenfound.Thesevariantsencodedistinctisoforms,whichcanregulatep53transcriptionalactivity.[providedbyRefSeq] |