The blind spot of p53

摘要

It is hoped that reactivating the tumour-suppressor protein p53 will help to combat cancer. However, fresh evidence suggests it is unlikely that all cells in a tumour will respond to such treatment.rnThe tumour suppressor that is most frequently mutated in human cancers is p53. Reactivation of this protein in tumours, which induces programmed cell death or cell-cycle arrest, is therefore an appealing therapeutic strategy. In this issue, however, Feldser et al. and Junttila et al. report work in mouse models of cancer showing that restoring p53 activity affects only advanced tumours, leaving untouched early lesions that are likely to one day become cancerous.