The p53 Tumor Suppressor Pathway and Cancer

The current year (2004) marks the Silver Anniversary of the discovery of the p53 tumor suppressor. The emerging field first considered p53 as a viral antigen and then as an oncogene that cooperates with activated ras in transforming primary cells in culture. Fueling the concept of p53 acting as a transforming factor, p53 expression was markedly elevated in various transformed and tumorigenic cell lines when compared to normal cells. In a simple twist of fate, most of the studies conducted i...