tumour protein p53
Last updated 4 May 2023
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The TP53 gene provides instructions for making a protein called tumour protein p53 (or p53). This protein acts as a tumour suppressor, which means that it regulates cell division by keeping cells from growing and dividing (proliferating) too fast or in an uncontrolled way.
Normal function
The TP53 gene provides instructions for making a protein called tumour protein p53 (or p53). This protein acts as a tumour suppressor, which means that it regulates cell division by keeping cells from growing and dividing (proliferating) too fast or in an uncontrolled way.
The p53 protein is located in the nucleus of cells throughout the body, where it attaches (binds) directly to DNA. When the DNA in a cell becomes damaged by agents such as toxic chemicals, radiation, or ultraviolet (UV) rays from sunlight, this protein plays a critical role in determining whether the DNA will be repaired or the damaged cell will self-destruct (undergo apoptosis). If the DNA can be repaired, p53 activates other genes to fix the damage. If the DNA cannot be repaired, this protein prevents the cell from dividing and signals it to undergo apoptosis. By stopping cells with mutated or damaged DNA from dividing, p53 helps prevent the development of tumours.
Because p53 is essential for regulating DNA repair and cell division, it has been nicknamed the "guardian of the genome."
Conditions referring to this gene or chromosome
Other names
antigen NY-CO-13
cellular tumour antigen p53
P53
P53 tumour suppressor
P53_HUMAN
phosphoprotein p53
transformation-related protein 53
TRP53
tumour protein p53 (Li-Fraumeni syndrome)
tumour suppressor p53
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Further reading and references
- tumour protein p53; MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine.
- Cancer Genome Atlas Research Network. Comprehensive molecular profiling of lung adenocarcinoma. Nature. 2014 Jul 31;511(7511):543-50. doi: 10.1038/nature13385. Epub 2014 Jul 9.
- Damineni S, Rao VR, Kumar S, Ravuri RR, Kagitha S, Dunna NR, Digumarthi R, Satti V. Germline mutations of TP53 gene in breast cancer. Tumour Biol. 2014 Sep;35(9):9219-27. doi: 10.1007/s13277-014-2176-6. Epub 2014 Jun 15.
- Loyo M, Li RJ, Bettegowda C, Pickering CR, Frederick MJ, Myers JN, Agrawal N. Lessons learned from next-generation sequencing in head and neck cancer. Head Neck. 2013 Mar;35(3):454-63. doi: 10.1002/hed.23100. Epub 2012 Aug 21.
- Masciari S, Dillon DA, Rath M, Robson M, Weitzel JN, Balmana J, Gruber SB, Ford JM, Euhus D, Lebensohn A, Telli M, Pochebit SM, Lypas G, Garber JE. Breast cancer phenotype in women with TP53 germline mutations: a Li-Fraumeni syndrome consortium effort. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2012 Jun;133(3):1125-30. doi: 10.1007/s10549-012-1993-9. Epub 2012 Mar 4.
- Masica DL, Li S, Douville C, Manola J, Ferris RL, Burtness B, Forastiere AA, Koch WM, Chung CH, Karchin R. Predicting survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma from TP53 mutation. Hum Genet. 2015 May;134(5):497-507. doi: 10.1007/s00439-014-1470-0. Epub 2014 Aug 10.
- Merino D, Malkin D. p53 and hereditary cancer. Subcell Biochem. 2014;85:1-16. doi: 10.1007/978-94-017-9211-0_1.
- National Cancer Institute: Genetics of Breast and Gynecologic Cancers (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version
- Olivier M, Hollstein M, Hainaut P. TP53 mutations in human cancers: origins, consequences, and clinical use. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2010 Jan;2(1):a001008. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a001008.
- Olivier M, Langerod A, Carrieri P, Bergh J, Klaar S, Eyfjord J, Theillet C, Rodriguez C, Lidereau R, Bieche I, Varley J, Bignon Y, Uhrhammer N, Winqvist R, Jukkola-Vuorinen A, Niederacher D, Kato S, Ishioka C, Hainaut P, Borresen-Dale AL. The clinical value of somatic TP53 gene mutations in 1,794 patients with breast cancer. Clin Cancer Res. 2006 Feb 15;12(4):1157-67. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-05-1029.
- Robertson AG, Kim J, Al-Ahmadie H, Bellmunt J, Guo G, Cherniack AD, Hinoue T, Laird PW, Hoadley KA, Akbani R, Castro MAA, Gibb EA, Kanchi RS, Gordenin DA, Shukla SA, Sanchez-Vega F, Hansel DE, Czerniak BA, Reuter VE, Su X, de Sa Carvalho B, Chagas VS, Mungall KL, Sadeghi S, Pedamallu CS, Lu Y, Klimczak LJ, Zhang J, Choo C, Ojesina AI, Bullman S, Leraas KM, Lichtenberg TM, Wu CJ, Schultz N, Getz G, Meyerson M, Mills GB, McConkey DJ; TCGA Research Network; Weinstein JN, Kwiatkowski DJ, Lerner SP. Comprehensive Molecular Characterization of Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer. Cell. 2018 Aug 9;174(4):1033. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.07.036. No abstract available.
- Ruijs MW, Verhoef S, Rookus MA, Pruntel R, van der Hout AH, Hogervorst FB, Kluijt I, Sijmons RH, Aalfs CM, Wagner A, Ausems MG, Hoogerbrugge N, van Asperen CJ, Gomez Garcia EB, Meijers-Heijboer H, Ten Kate LP, Menko FH, van 't Veer LJ. TP53 germline mutation testing in 180 families suspected of Li-Fraumeni syndrome: mutation detection rate and relative frequency of cancers in different familial phenotypes. J Med Genet. 2010 Jun;47(6):421-8. doi: 10.1136/jmg.2009.073429.
- Schneider K, Zelley K, Nichols KE, Schwartz Levine A, Garber J. Li-Fraumeni Syndrome. 1999 Jan 19 [updated 2025 May 1]. In: Adam MP, Bick S, Mirzaa GM, Wallace SE, Amemiya A, editors. GeneReviews(R) [Internet]. Seattle (WA): University of Washington, Seattle; 1993-2026. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1311/
- Silwal-Pandit L, Vollan HK, Chin SF, Rueda OM, McKinney S, Osako T, Quigley DA, Kristensen VN, Aparicio S, Borresen-Dale AL, Caldas C, Langerod A. TP53 mutation spectrum in breast cancer is subtype specific and has distinct prognostic relevance. Clin Cancer Res. 2014 Jul 1;20(13):3569-80. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-2943. Epub 2014 May 6.
- Toss A, Tomasello C, Razzaboni E, Contu G, Grandi G, Cagnacci A, Schilder RJ, Cortesi L. Hereditary ovarian cancer: not only BRCA 1 and 2 genes. Biomed Res Int. 2015;2015:341723. doi: 10.1155/2015/341723. Epub 2015 May 17.
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