Live or let die: the cell's response to p53

KH Vousden, X Lu - Nature Reviews Cancer, 2002 - nature.com
KH Vousden, X Lu
Nature Reviews Cancer, 2002nature.com
Compared with many normal tissues, cancer cells are highly sensitized to apoptotic signals,
and survive only because they have acquired lesions—such as loss of p53—that prevent or
impede cell death. We are now beginning to understand the complex mechanisms that
regulate whether or not a cell dies in response to p53—insights that will ultimately contribute
to the development of therapeutic strategies to repair the apoptotic p53 response in cancers.
Abstract
Compared with many normal tissues, cancer cells are highly sensitized to apoptotic signals, and survive only because they have acquired lesions — such as loss of p53 — that prevent or impede cell death. We are now beginning to understand the complex mechanisms that regulate whether or not a cell dies in response to p53 — insights that will ultimately contribute to the development of therapeutic strategies to repair the apoptotic p53 response in cancers.
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