Jan

28

The P53 Gene - Life’s Achilles Heel

Posted by cameron

January 28, 2007 |

We live in an awesome time when science will unravel many mysteries of human affliction and suffering. To that end this is a great day! It’s called the P53 gene and is responsible for the control of cell growth. P53 shuts down cell division when it detects that DNA within a cell has become damaged, thus affording cells the opportunity to repair themselves before division can start back up. If the P53 gene itself is damaged then cell division will not be controlled and bad DNA is replicated. This is the Achilles Heel of life. This mechanism is responsible for more than 50% of known cancer cases, including all the major ones. The “Holy Grail” of cancer researchers is the total understanding of the mechanism and the repair of damaged P53 genes. Researchers have been wrestling with this problem for the past 25 years. For the first ten years it was thought to be an Oncogene. That was before its true nature was determined and it became the most studied gene in the human body. Over the past 15 years we have witnessed the human genome project; the unraveling of the truth about P53 and now the most exciting news: Researchers studying P53 have figured out how to turn it “back on” in mice. It was revealed this week that researchers from MIT and New York’s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory may have just discovered the Holy Grail. In mice research they not only reactivated P53 but also have seen substantial evidence of tumor reversal in more than one cancer type. This is truly exciting since the only real solution to cancer must come from within.


Comments

2 Comments so far

  1. Molecules That Control Our Cancer Destiny · Empty Nest on March 8, 2007 7:01 am

    […] In a recent post I wrote about breakthroughs in our understanding of the P53 gene. Although experimental successes have been achieved, cancer reversion occurred, meaning our understanding is far from complete. The P53 gene wields the power of life and death over cells in our body. It is supposed to kill mutant cells and let the good ones live. If it doesn’t cause mutant cell death then cancer can follow. […]

  2. That Darn P53 gene again · Empty Nest on March 15, 2007 7:08 am

    […] As shown by recent posts, I am fascinated by this topic because the solution to many of man’s health scourges is buried within this tiny regulator of our cellular systems. You can read my previous posts here and here. It was recently reported in Scientific American that the P53 is instrumental in protecting our bodies against skin cancer but does it in an entirely different way. Researchers at Harvard’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered that P53 starts the bodies’ defense mechanism to skin cancer by initiating the process that results in the production of Melanin. That is the substance that gives our skin its suntanned look and protects against the suns rays. It is reported that P53 causes that as a response to cell damage in the skin caused by the sun, or any other radiation impact. Since most of us living in a warm climate get a sun tan in the summer it is obvious that cell damage is happening to all of us every year. If it weren’t for P53 we would all get skin cancer. Of course, those of us that are fair skinned and burn easy have a less effective mechanism for unknown reasons. So this tiny little gene is responsible for killing bad cells before they cause a major health problem and also protect us against the suns harmful effects. In terms of our long-term health and man’s longevity it seems to me that no subject in research is more important. I can only hope that research funds are pouring into this area. […]

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