Sequence analysis of the tumour suppressor protein p53 and its implications

The p53 is a transcription factor encoded by the tumour suppressor gene TP53, involved in regulating the cell responses to DNA damage to conserve genomic stability. p53 protein sequence analysis was carried out to unravel the structural details of normal and mutant forms. The tumour suppressor protein p53 is mutated in more than 50% of invasive cancers and 30% of these mutations are found in six major hot spot codons located in its DNA binding core domain. This study was conducted to gain insights into normal and mutant variants of p53 and to understand their clinical implications in the etiology of cancer. pBLAST analysis was performed between normal and two mutant p53 protein sequences and various types of mutations like substitutions of amino acids were identified. Importance of insilico study on p53 as a tool for prediction and diagnosis of mutations in human cancers and its medical significance are discussed.