Role of p53 in Apoptosis and Cancer Therapy

P53 is the most famous tumor suppressor gene that is mutated in over 50% of human cancers. This gene has been described as "guardian of the genome"," the guardian angel gene", and the " master watchman", referring to its critical role in genomic stability, and tumor suppression mainly by inducing apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and senescence, inhibition of angiogenesis. In this review article were discussed recent advances in p53 research, mainly its role in apoptosis and the approaches to target p53 and its regulators for cancer treatment aimed to either to activate p53 in cancer cells to kill them or temporarily inactivation of p53 in the normal cells to protect them against chemo-radiation. Due to the vital roles of P53 in carcinogenesis inhibition, this protein is one of the most important therapeutic targets for cancer therapy. Based on genetic variation type in P53, in the normal and tumor cells, a combination of different therapies can be used and also by more comprehensive consideration of the involved signaling pathways new upstream and downstream novel proteins can be discovered to act as targets for new therapeutic targets.