Small Molecular Weight Variants of p53 Are Expressed in Human Melanoma Cells and Are Induced by the DNA-Damaging Agent Cisplatin

Abstract excerpt

PURPOSE: Metastatic melanoma is largely unresponsive to DNA-damaging chemotherapy agents, although WTp53 is frequently detected. Several isoforms of p53 have been discovered, some of which inhibit p53 function. We therefore examined whether p53 isoforms were present in melanoma and whether they may contribute to aberrant p53 function in melanoma. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We studied the expression and subcellular...