Murderous hairpins | Nature Reviews Cancer

The normal function of the tumour suppressor p53 is to prevent cell multiplication and promote apoptosis. However, p53 is inactivated in most types of human cancer, which allows cancerous

cells to survive.

Raj and colleagues infected cell lines — that were either null or wild type for p53 — with AAV, and used flow cytometry to assess DNA content and cell fate. The p53 wild-type cells arrested

briefly at the G2 phase, then re-entered the cell cycle after several days, whereas those that lacked p53 activity underwent apoptosis. This effect could also be seen in tumours in nude mice

that were induced by injection with p53−/− or p53+/+ cells: AAV reduced the incidence of p53−/− tumours by 17% compared with controls, and caused established tumours to regress.

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