Clinical applications of detecting dysfunctional p53 tumor suppressor protein

I.O. Baas1, R.H. Hruban2 and G.J.A. Offerhaus1

1Department of Pathology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands and 2Departments of Pathology and Oncology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA

Offprint requests to: Dr. Ralph H. Hruban, MD., Departments of Pathology and Oncology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, 600 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. Fax: 1-410-955-0115. e-mail: rhruban@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu

Summary. The p53 gene encodes for a protein, p53, which plays a critical role in controlling the cell cycle, in DNA repair and in programed cell death (apoptosis). p53 is one of the most frequently mutated genes in human neoplasms and a variety of techniques have been developed to detect these mutations. These range from advanced molecular-genetic analyses to immuno-histochemical staining for the p53 protein. This review will summarize our current understanding of the function of p53 as well as current methods to detect dysfunctional p53 and the clinical value of such analyses. Histol. Histopathol. 14, 279-284 (1999)

Key words: p53, Tumor suppressor gene, Cell cycle, Neoplasia, Cancer

DOI: 10.14670/HH-14.279