title: p63 and p73: teammates or adversaries?
abstract: The status and interrelationship of p53 family members are critical elements in tumor progression. An intriguing paper in this issue of Cancer Cell (Rocco et al., 2006) reveals a new twist in the interactions between p63 and p73 following DNA damage, underscoring a role for p73 in the proapoptotic regulation of Puma, Noxa, and Bcl-2 in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). These data define a pathway in which deltaNp63alpha promotes survival in squamous epithelial malignancy by repressing a p73-dependent proapoptotic transcriptional program, suggesting that p63 levels and p73 status may be key determinants of tumor response in patients with HNSCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Division of Head and Neck Cancer Research, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ratovitski
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Trink
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sidransky
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D019254:Genes, bcl-2; D016158:Genes, p53; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000072160:Tumor Protein p73; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; C438378:BBC3 protein, human; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C498702:PMAIP1 protein, human; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; C115051:TP63 protein, human; C000606460:TP73 protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000072160:Tumor Protein p73; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins