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- *******************************
- * p53 tumor antigen signature *
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-
- The p53 tumor antigen [1 to 5] is a protein found in increased amounts in a
- wide variety of transformed cells. It is also detectable in many proliferating
- nontransformed cells, but it is undetectable or present at low levels in
- resting cells. It is frequently mutated or inactivated in many types of
- cancer. p53 seems to act as a tumor suppressor in some, but probably not all,
- tumor types. p53 is probably involved in cell cycle regulation, and may be a
- trans-activator that acts to negatively regulate cellular division by
- controlling a set of genes required for this process.
-
- p53 is a phosphoprotein of about 390 amino acids which can be subdivided into
- four domains: a highly charged acidic region of about 75 to 80 residues, a
- hydrophobic proline-rich domain (position 80 to 150), a central region (from
- 150 to about 300), and a highly basic C-terminal region. The sequence of p53
- is well conserved in vertebrate species; attempts to identify p53 in other
- eukaryotic philum has so far been unsuccessful.
-
- As a signature pattern for p53 we selected a perfectly conserved stretch of 14
- residues located in the central region of the protein. This region, known as
- domain IV in [3], is involved (along with an adjacent region) in the binding
- of the large T antigen of SV40. In man this region is the focus of a variety
- of point mutations in cancerous tumors.
-
- -Consensus pattern: M-C-N-S-S-C-M-G-G-M-N-R-R-P
- -Sequences known to belong to this class detected by the pattern: ALL.
- -Other sequence(s) detected in SWISS-PROT: NONE.
- -Last update: December 1992 / Text revised.
-
- [ 1] Levine A.J., Momand J., Finlay C.A.
- Nature 351:453-456(1991).
- [ 2] Levine A.J., Momand J.
- Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1032:119-136(1990).
- [ 3] Soussi T., Caron De Fromentel C., May P.
- Oncogene 5:945-952(1990).
- [ 4] Lane D.P., Benchimol S.
- Genes Dev. 4:1-8(1990).
- [ 5] Ulrich S.J., Anderson C.W., Mercer W.E., Appella E.
- J. Biol. Chem. 267:15259-15262(1992).
-