Aurora A mediates cross-talk between N- and C-terminal post-translational modifications of p53.

The serine/threonine protein kinase Aurora A is known to interact with and phosphorylate tumor suppressor p53 at Serine 215 (S215), inhibiting the transcriptional activity of p53. We show that Aurora A positively regulates human p53 protein levels and, using isogenic p53 wild-type and p53-null colorectal carcinoma cells, further show that p53 regulates human Aurora A protein expression. S215 is located in the DNA-binding core of p53 and at the center of the cryptic epitope for PAb240 antibody, which is used to detect mutant and denatured p53.