p53 ancestry: gazing through an evolutionary lens.
Evolutionary patterns indicate that primordial p53 genes predated the appearance of cancer. Therefore, wild-type tumour suppressive functions and mutant oncogenic functions that give celebrity status to this gene family were probably co-opted from unrelated primordial activities. Is it possible to deduce what these early functions might have been? And might this knowledge provide a platform for therapeutic opportunities?
Wan-Jin Lu and John M. Abrams are at the Department of Cell Biology, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390, USA.
Wan-Jin
WJ
Lu
James F
JF
Amatruda
John M
JM
Abrams
D000818:Animals; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D016158:Genes, p53 / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 / Q000235:genetics*
D016159:Tumor Suppressor Protein p53