p53 Resources Page

p53: a universal sensor of genotoxic stress.

The p53 tumor suppressor gene encodes a nuclear phosphoprotein with cancer-inhibiting properties. The development of human cancer often involves inactivation of this suppressor function through various mechanisms, including gene deletions and point mutations. The p53 protein is a multi-functional transcription factor involved in the control cell cycle progression, DNA integrity and apoptosis in cells exposed to DNA-damaging agents. Loss of p53 activity predisposes cells to the acquisition of oncogenic mutations and may favor genetic instability. Since the identification of tumor-specific, missense p53 mutations in 1989, there has been a widespread interest in the possibility that the localization and the characteristics of these mutations may reveal clues about the etiology and the molecular pathogenesis of human cancer (Greenblatt et al., 1994. Cancer Res., 54: 4855-78; Harris-CC, 1996. Carcinogenesis, 17: 1187-98; Ko-L and Prives-C, 1996. Genes Dev., 10: 1054-72; Levine-AJ, 1997. Cell, 88: 323-331). Point mutations are scattered over more than 250 codons and are common in many forms of human cancer. In this respect, the p53 gene differs from other tumor suppressor genes such as Rb, APC and ATM which are frequently inactivated by deletion or nonsense mutations, and from the oncogenes of the ras family, which are activated by mutation at a small number of well-defined codons.

For more information on p53 see the LHC p53 Resources Page

p53 Links

Universal Mutation Database
UMD softwares to query the APC, FBN1, LDLR, p53, VHL, and WT1 databases.

HotMolecBase: p53 tumor Suppressor Gene
Good resources on p53 structure, function, Expression, Metabolism, and other information.

p53 at NCBI
OMIM entry #191170 for p53 Resources.

p53 at Bioscience

Evolution of p53

GDB Database: Gene TP53

IARC Database of p53 Mutations
The p53 mutation database contains information on all missense mutations and small deletions reported in human p53 reported in peer-reviewed literature.

Database of Germline p53 Mutations
List of Li-Fraumeni mutations in the p53 gene from Charles University, Prague.

p53 and APC Databases by Thierry Soussi
we have devised generic software which allows the entry and analysis of mutations in any gene of interest.

p53 Database at UNC by Neil Cariello
This site contains Databases and software for the analysis of mutations at the transgenic and bacterial lacI gene, human p53 gene, hprt gene, transgenic lacZ gene...

p53 Sequence Map
Human p53 gene for transformation related protein p53, Acession #: X54156.