The p53 tumour suppressor is considered one of the most critical genes in cancer biology. By upregulating apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and DNA damage repair in normal cells, p53 prevents the propagation of cells with tumorigenic potential; therefore, mutations in p53 are associated with carcinogenic transformation and can be accompanied by the accumulation of a novel gain‐of‐function oncogenic protein, mutant p53. Although p53 is most often understood to utilize context‐dependent post‐translational modifications to achieve regulation of its many target genes, recent research has also sought to define other mechanisms of regulating p53 gene expression prior to translation and to understand how this alternative regulation of p53 may influence target gene expression and cellular outcome. This review attempts to summarize what is known about p53 regulation at the transcriptional, post‐transcriptional, and post‐translational levels while paying special attention to the ways in which context may influence p53 regulation and subsequent regulation of its target genes.

中文翻译：

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背景非常关键：了解p53肿瘤抑制因子的调控，功能控制和活性

p53抑癌剂被认为是癌症生物学中最关键的基因之一。通过上调正常细胞的凋亡，细胞周期停滞和DNA损伤修复，p53阻止了具有致癌潜力的细胞的繁殖。因此，p53的突变与致癌转化有关，并伴有新的功能增强的致癌蛋白突变体p53的积累。尽管最常理解p53利用上下文相关的翻译后修饰来实现其许多靶基因的调控，但最近的研究也试图定义在翻译前调控p53基因表达的其他机制，并了解p53的这种替代调控可能影响靶基因表达和细胞结果。