Tumour supressor genes Flashcards
how does p53 work
when the DNA is damaged it acts as a transcription factor and makes proteins for cell cycle arrest e.g. p21
what is p21 and what does it do?
it is a protein that causes cell arrest by inhibiting CDKs and cyclins
what other proteins does p53 make
proteins for DNA repair so when the cell is arrested it can repair its DNA, proteins for apoptosis incase cell cannot repair itself
what happens when p53 is inactivated
no proteins for cell arrest, repair or apoptosis. cell therefore goes into cell cycle and surpass checkpoints
what do TSGs do
act as a brake to stop healthy cells becoming cancerous by inhibiting cell division, repairing DNA or apoptosis
what is p120 (GAP) and what does it do
it is a GTPase activating protein that inactivates ras
what is neurofibromin 1 (NF1) and what does it do
a mutant form of p120 (GAP) that fails to inactivate ras-GTP signalling
what is the two hit hypothesis
both copies of TSGs must be mutated for a cell to be considered cancerous
what is loss of heterozygosity (LOH)
loss of one parents contribution to the cell, allowing the expression of the recessive mutation is TSGs
allelic imbalance
heterozygous somatic cells become homozygous as an allele is lost
what can allelic imbalance lead to
inactivation of the secondary TSG - 2 hit hypothesis
6 stimulators of p53
- lack of nucleotides
- UV
- ionising radiation
- oncogene signalling
- hypoxia
- blockage of transcription
what can cell cycle arrest lead to (2)
senescence or return to proliferation
4 functions of p53
- cell cycle arrest
- DNA repair
- block angiogenesis
- apoptosis
why can mice be used for drug discovery
they have a similar genome to humans
