Stanford University other research news

Stanford researchers and colleagues showed in Nature that regions of hypoxia in tumors provide selective pressure for mutations in the p53 suppressor gene, explaining why p53 is one of the most commonly mutated genes in cancer.

The mutations create cells that have lost their ability to undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death). Because p53 mutations also suppress apoptosis induced by radiation and chemotherapy, hypoxia-mediated selection of cells with diminished apoptotic potential could explain the resistance of many solid tumors to cancer therapy, they said. ...