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Differential p53-Mediated Cellular Responses to DNA-Damaging Therapeutic Agents

Journal

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijms222111828

Keywords

p53; chemotherapy; radiation; target selectivity; DNA damage

Funding

  1. Mencoff Professorship in Medical Science at Brown University
  2. Teymour Alireza P'98, P'00 Family Cancer Research Fund

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The TP53 gene, encoding the tumor suppressor protein p53, is mutated in around 50% of cancers. After DNA damage, p53 acts as a transcription factor to activate target genes for cell fates such as apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and DNA repair. The complex regulatory network controlling target gene selection by p53 varies across contexts such as treatment type, cell type, and tissue type.
The gene TP53, which encodes the tumor suppressor protein p53, is mutated in about 50% of cancers. In response to cell stressors like DNA damage and after treatment with DNA-damaging therapeutic agents, p53 acts as a transcription factor to activate subsets of target genes which carry out cell fates such as apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and DNA repair. Target gene selection by p53 is controlled by a complex regulatory network whose response varies across contexts including treatment type, cell type, and tissue type. The molecular basis of target selection across these contexts is not well understood. Knowledge gained from examining p53 regulatory network profiles across different DNA-damaging agents in different cell types and tissue types may inform logical ways to optimally manipulate the network to encourage p53-mediated tumor suppression and anti-tumor immunity in cancer patients. This may be achieved with combination therapies or with p53-reactivating targeted therapies. Here, we review the basics of the p53 regulatory network in the context of differential responses to DNA-damaging agents; discuss recent efforts to characterize differential p53 responses across treatment types, cell types, and tissue types; and examine the relevance of evaluating these responses in the tumor microenvironment. Finally, we address open questions including the potential relevance of alternative p53 transcriptional functions, p53 transcription-independent functions, and p53-independent functions in the response to DNA-damaging therapeutics.

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