TP53, encoding the tumour-suppressor p53, is the most frequently mutated gene across all human cancers. Similar to other transcription factors, p53 has proved notoriously difficult to target therapeutically; to date, no p53-targeted therapies have entered the clinic. The diversity ofTP53 mutations, which can be categorized across a spectrum of different functional classes, is increasingly recognized as an additional challenge to developing p53-directed treatments. Herein, Kanaga Sabapathy and David Lane review this 'rainbow of p53 mutants', and discuss the implications for anticancer therapies targeting p53 or directed by TP53status.
Therapeutic targeting of p53: all mutants are equal, but some mutants are more equal than others