Is the tumour suppressor activity of p53 independent of its transcriptional role?

要癌变，细胞必须避免死亡。因此，癌细胞通常在细胞死亡途径中含有缺陷，这使得它们对包括许多化疗药物在内的促死亡刺激具有抵抗力。为了设计新的更好的癌症治疗方法，我们必须了解控制细胞死亡的关键分子过程。这将允许开发更有效的方法来重置或绕过导致癌症形成的细胞死亡途径中的缺陷。

To become cancerous, a cell must avoid death. As such, cancer cells often contain defects in cell death pathways which render them resistant to pro-death stimuli, including many chemotherapeutic drugs. To design new and better cancer therapies, it is essential that we understand the critical molecular processes that control cell death. This will allow the development of more effective ways to either reset, or bypass, defects in cell death pathways which have contributed to cancer formation.