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Assessing TP53 status in human tumours to evaluate clinical outcome

Abstract

TP53 is probably the most extensively studied tumour-suppressor gene, and patients with TP53 mutations are known to have a poor outcome. However, inconsistencies in the analysis of TP53 status, and failure to realize that different mutations behave in different ways, prevent us from effectively applying our vast knowledge of this protein in clinical practice. What simple steps can be taken to ensure that patients benefit from our understanding of TP53?

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Figure 1: Literature survey of strategies used for mutation analysis of TP53.
Figure 2: Distribution (%) of TP53 mutations along its exons.
Figure 3: Distribution of mutational events in each exon of the TP53 gene.
Figure 4: Schematic representation of the p53 protein.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to D. Barnes, N. Basset-Seguin, E. M. J. J. Berns, A. L. Borresen, D. Brash, R. Camplejohn, R. Iggo, U. Moll, D. Sidransky and B. Vogelstein for critical reading of this manuscript. T.S. is grateful to B. Asselain and P. Viehl for helpful discussions. Our work is supported by grants from Association de Recherche contre le Cancer, Institut Curie, Ligue contre le Cancer (Comité de Paris) and Fondation de France.

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Correspondence to Thierry Soussi.

Supplementary information

Related links

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DATABASES

CancerNet:

breast cancer

cervical cancer

colon tumours

head and neck cancer

melanoma

neuroblastoma

non-Hodgkin's lymphomas

non-small-cell lung carcinoma

testicular cancer

 GenBank:

E6 protein

 InterPro:

SAM

 LocusLink:

APAF

APC

ATM

BRCA1

MDM2

p19ARF

RET

TP53

TP63

TP73

Trp53

Trp63

 Medscape DrugInfo:

cisplatin

etoposide

tamoxifen

 OMIM:

ataxia telangiectasia

Li–Fraumeni syndrome

FURTHER INFORMATION

The APC database at the Institut Curie

The City of Hope Database of MDM2 Mutations in Human Tumors

The IARC TP53 Mutation Database

The NIH p53 Resources Page

The OncoLink p53 Information Center

The p53 mutation database

The TP53 site at the Institut Curie

The Universal Mutation Database site

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Soussi, T., Béroud, C. Assessing TP53 status in human tumours to evaluate clinical outcome. Nat Rev Cancer 1, 233–239 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35106009

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