Description
The tumor suppressor protein p53 is one of the key players in cancer biology. DNA damage and oxidative stress signals lead to p53 posttranslational modifications and stabilization by binding to its consensus sequence, the p53 response element. Stabilized p53 can interact with other transcriptional regulators for the induction of p53-responsive targets involved in cell cycle progression, cell senescence, or apoptotic cell death. Because the expression and activity of p53 are frequently altered in human cancers, p53 becomes an important drug target as well as a biomarker in carcinogenesis