Question

One of the first genes to be implicated in the development and progression of cancer codes for the transcription factor p53. In normal cells, this protein becomes activated as a result of DNA damage. Once activated, p53 induces cell cycle arrest to allow the cell sufficient time to repair its DNA. If the DNA cannot be repaired p53 induces apoptosis. Mutations in p53 that result in a non-functional protein are associated with aggressive forms of various cancers, including breast cancer.

What would be an appropriate control to use, along with your p53 breast cancer model, in order to test potential therapies?

Answer 1

In last a few decades, scientist have investigated role of guardian of genome that is p53 extensively and it is proven that it inhibits the growth of malignant tumors significantly by thousands of report across the globe and it is being used as a therapeutic gene for the treatment of this deadly disease.

Without any exception, p53 gene play crucial role in the progression of a number of cancers including breast cancer. For last several years, researchers are using p53 as a target gene for the therapeutic approach for breast cancer treatment. In breast cancer, mutation in BRCA1 and BRCA2 is the two main genes for breast cancer development due to instability of genome and also cause irreparable DNA damage. There are several reports, which suggest initiation of mutation in BRCA1 where p53 is compromised. Therefore, p53 can be used in such case for the treatment of breast cancer and this model can be utilized further through exogenous sources. In this context, therapeutic approach for the controlled expression BRCA1 and BRCA2 along TP53 would be beneficial too.