p53

p53

Page updated 5/10/03

The p53 protein is a tumour suppressor gene whose loss by mutation or deletion is associated with cancer. p53 is normally involved in cell-cycle control and apoptosis. The protein has been reported to bind microtubules (Giannakakou et al, 2000) and F-actin (Metcalfe et al, 1999; Okorokov et al, 2002). The influence that p53 has over the cytoskeleton means that it regulates cell locomotion (Yao et al, 2003).

References:-

Giannakakou, P., Sackett, D. L., Ward, Y., Webster, K. R., Blagosklonny, M. V. & Fojo, T. (2000) p53 is associated with cellular microtubules and is transported to the nucleus by dynein., Nature Cell Biol. 2, 709-717.

Metcalfe, S., Weeds, A., Okorokov, A. L., Milner, J., Cockman, M. & Pope, B. (1999) Wild-type p53 protein shows calcium-dependent binding to F-actin. Oncogene. 18, 2351-2355.

Okorokov, A. L., Rubbi, C. P., Metcalfe, S. & Milner, J. (2002) The interaction of p53 with the nuclear matrix is mediated by F-actin and modulated by DNA damage. Oncogene. 21, 356-367.

Yao, W., Gu, L., Sun, D., Ka, W., Wen, Z. & Chien, S. (2003) Wild type p53 gene causes reorganization of cytoskeleton and , therefore, the impaired deformability and difficult migration of murine erythroleukemia cells. Cell Motil Cytoskeleton. 56, 1-12.