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Nature Cell Biology 10, 637–639 (1 June 2008) | doi:10.1038/ncb0608-637

p53: The Janus of autophagy?

Beth Levine & John Abrams

p53, the 'guardian of the cellular genome', is the most commonly mutated gene in human cancers. In response to DNA damage, oncogenic activation, hypoxia or other forms of stress, p53 acts through both transcription-dependent and -independent mechanisms to coordinate cellular responses, which either prevent or repair genomic damage or eliminate potentially oncogenic cells.