Detection of p53 protein transcriptional activity by chromatin immunoprecipitation.

p53 is a key transcriptional mediator that controls the expression of hundreds of target genes necessary to maintain cellular homeostasis and genome integrity. An important cellular function that is dependent on p53 transcriptional activity is apoptosis or programmed cell death. Indeed, inhibition of p53 transcriptional activity is often observed in cancers as a result of mutations within its DNA-binding domain.

Detection of p53 protein aggregation in cancer cell lines and tumor samples.

The p53 protein plays a central role in regulating apoptosis. The loss of functional p53 is common in many cancers. In cancer cells, the dysfunctional p53 protein often maintains a misfolded, inactive conformation due to genetic mutations or posttranslational deregulation.