Ruolo del gene p53 nel pathway apoptotico: Implicazioni cliniche

The p53 tumor suppressor gene plays a central role in multiple processes such as cell cycle control, DNA repair and programmed cell death. Functional inactivation of p53 gene by structural alterations, interaction with viral products or by endogenous cellular mechanisms represents a critical step toward the development of human malignancies. P53 mutations occur in almost half of all cancer patients and in some tumor type these mutations are associated with worse prognosis and with chemio/radioresistance, which may be due to inability to trigger programmed cell death. The evolving knowledge of apoptotic pathways involving p53 will improve the development of novel approaches to treat cancer patients according to the p53 functional status.