title: Drug discovery and p53.
abstract: In the past two decades, the identification of commonly mutated oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes has driven an unprecedented growth in our understanding of the genetic basis of human cancer. Although oncogenes can clearly serve as classically defined drug targets whose inactivation by small molecules could place a brake on cancer cell proliferation, the restoration of mutated tumour suppressor gene activity by small molecules might appear on the surface to be unrealistic. However, there is a growing realization that many eukaryotic regulatory proteins are partially unfolded and such intrinsically disordered proteins acquire a folded structure after binding to their biological target. Molecular characterization of the p53 protein has shown that its conformational flexibility and intrinsic thermodynamic instability provide a foundation from which its conformation can be quickly post-translationally modified.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Laboratories, Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology, University of Dundee, Dundee, Scotland DD1 9SY, UK. d.p.lane@dundee.ac.uk
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Lane
authors.forename: Ted R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Hupp
mesh_terms: D000494:Allosteric Regulation; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D050759:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21; D016213:Cyclins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D009154:Mutation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000235:genetics; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011487:Protein Conformation; D017510:Protein Folding; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051736:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-mdm2; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; C493956:CDKN1A protein, human; D050759:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21; D016213:Cyclins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53; C497206:MDM2 protein, human; D051736:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-mdm2