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iASPP Inhibition: Increased Options in Targeting the p53 Family for Cancer Therapy

¹ Tumour Cell Death Laboratory, Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Cancer Research UK Beatson Laboratories and ² Glasgow Centre for Cancer Research, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Requests for reprints: Kevin M. Ryan, Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Garscube, Estate, Switchback Road, Glasgow G61 1BD, UK. Phone: 441413303655; Fax: 441419426521; E-mail: k.ryan{at}beatson.gla.ac.uk.

Key Words: p53 • p73 • iASPP • cancer • therapy

Strategies to induce p53 for cancer therapy offer appeal but many tumors harbor inactivating p53 mutations. One way to address this situation may be to activate the p53-related protein p73, which functions similarly, but unlike p53, is rarely lost or mutated in cancer. Along these lines, a recent study reports that a p53-derived peptide that targets iASPP—a common negative regulator of p53 family members—can effectively trigger tumor cell death by a p73-dependent mechanism. These findings promote further study of iASPP targeting as a therapeutic strategy to activate p73. [Cancer Res 2008;68(13):4959–62]