A piece of the p53 puzzle

摘要

The gene that encodes the p53 tumour-suppressor protein is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancers. Indeed, p53 is inactivated in more than half of all cancers, reflecting the fact that it provides a crucial brake to cancer development, and that incapacitating p53 is often a requisite step for the emergence of cancer. However, despite years of research, our understanding of how p53 performs its job remains far from complete. In this issue, Jiang et al. (page 57) uncover a previously unknown role for p53 in regulating a type of cell death dubbed ferro-ptosis, completing one more piece of the p53 puzzle.