p53 Information

p53 information

p53 story

p53 monoclonal antibodies

p53 pathways

p53 gene

p53 protein(s)

mdm family

p63/p73 protein(s)

p53 evolution

p53 polymorphism

p53 and cancer

mouse models

ASPP family

 p53 KNOWLEDGE CENTER

“Guardian of the genome” (Lane, 1992), “Death star” (Vousden, 2000), “Good and bad cop” (Sharpless and DePinho, 2002), “An acrobat in tumorigenesis” (Moll and Schramm, 1998), are just a few of the names that have been attributed to the p53 gene over recent years. The cameras (and funding) were certainly not present at the time of the discovery of p53 in 1979 (Crawford, 1983). It was only when the first alterations of the p53 gene in human cancers were discovered 10 years later, in 1989, that p53 started to become really popular, with the title of “molecule of the year” attributed by Science, in 1993 (Harris, 1993). This title was certainly justified, as the observation that more than one half of human cancers expressed a mutant p53 raised extensive clinical possibilities both for diagnosis and treatment. As always, during the rapid growth phase of a new field of investigation, great hopes were raised and the pharmaceutical industry became actively involved. Although, from a scientific point of view, research has clearly shown the importance of p53 signalling pathways in the surveillance of the cell after a stress (Vogelstein et al., 2000), clinical applications are nevertheless limited at the present time.

This section of the p53 web site will provide information and documents on p53 including some historical notes (p53 story) but also new information about the various members of the p53 family (p63/p73 proteins), the newly discovered p53 isoforms (p53 proteins) or various p53 mouse models (mouse models). Use the menu on the left for more information.

Localisation of the various genes on human chromosomes

Localisation of the various genes on mouse chromosomes