International p53 Isoforms Meeting, Lyon, France, 13–15 September 2010

After three decades of research, it has been shown that the tumor suppressor TP53 gene expresses diverse p53 protein forms: the mutant p53 proteins (ex: p53R175H); the polymorphic p53 proteins (ex: p53R72P); the post-translationally modified p53 proteins (ex: p53 phosphorylated on Ser15); and finally the p53 protein isoforms. The p53 isoforms, physiologically expressed in normal tissues, are generated by the usage of alternative promoters, splicing sites and translational initiation sites, thus containing different N- and C-terminal domains compared with the canonical p53 protein. p53 isoforms are not newcomers in the field: alternative splicing of mouse and human p53 was first described in the mid-eighties. However, the field took off only after the discovery in 1997–98 of two additional members of the TP53 gene family, TP63 and TP73. Both genes express several p63 or p73 protein isoforms with distinct N- and/or C-termini termini because of presence of internal promoters and alternative splicing sites.

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