Mar

15

That Darn P53 gene again

Posted by cameron

March 15, 2007 |

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.

I am reminded of the human Genome project. This was a long-term study by a consortium of research centers in universities and the like. It wasn’t until Celera Genomics got involved, with its supercomputing approach, that the purists in the academic world pulled out their proverbial fingers and raced to get the results. At 60 years of age, I can only wish they would get a move on…again. Competition needs to be inserted into the process.


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