Presence of p53 in Tumor Cells – an Indicator of Disease Severity? Retrospective Study in Patients with NSCC (Partial Results)

The lung cancer is the leading cause of death determined by malignancies in the world, followed by breast, prostate and colon cancer. The malignant cells present a variety of genetic aberrations that can be grouped into six essential pathways: (1) the acquisition of self sufficient or autonomous growth signals
(2) insensitivity to growth inhibitory signals
(3) resistance to signals of apoptosis
(4) unlimited proliferation potential
(5) sustained angiogenesis
and (6) invasion and metastasis1.
The p53 protein is a protein with molecular mass of 53 kDa (from where its name derives). The gene p53 encoding the protein p53 is located on the short arm of chromosome 14. The protein p53 is involved in maintaining control cellular genome stability and its disruption can lead to the emergence of malignancies. In about 50% of human cancers, the mutant protein p53 was detected. At the cellular level it regulating the transcription of some genes involved in cell growth control and apoptosis. The gene p53 can be inactivated by punctiform mutations and protein p53 can be inactivated by the formation of complexes with the cellular proteins or by proteolysis.