Nuevo papel de p53

El gen supresor p53, conocido como "el guardián del genoma", tiene un papel fundamental en la respuesta al daño al ADN (como el producido por las drogas antineoplásicas), al activar ya sea el proceso de arresto celular, si el daño es reparable, o apoptosis, si no lo es. Más del 50% de los tumores tienen mutado o perdido este gen, lo que resalta su importancia. Acaban de describir una nueva función de p53, como un inhibidor de la migración, lo que tiene mucho sentido para la fisiopatología del cáncer.

p53 and RhoA signalling: A round about way for tumour invasion

Cell Migration Gateway (August 2007) | doi:10.1038/cmg051

Knocking out the tumour suppressor p53 causes cells to shift from an elongated to a rounded morphology, which is associated with increased motility and tumour invasiveness.

"The role of p53 in controlling cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis has been well-characterised but the tumour suppressor has more recently been linked with cell morphology. Published in The Journal of Cell Biology, Roux and colleagues report that p53 affects cell migration morphology by controlling localisation of the key cytoskeletal regulator RhoA, leading to an increase in cell invasiveness."

".....Thus, p53 modulates cell migration by controlling RhoA localization and regulating the RhoA-ROCK signalling pathway. Loss of p53 results in the aberrant overactivation of RhoA and ROCK-dependent translocation of RhoA to membrane blebbing structures."