P53 levels govern the choice between senescence and quiescence

David W. Meek¹

¹Biomedical Research Institute, University of Dundee, UK

Received: October 10, 2010Accepted: October 19, 2010Published: October 20, 2010

Copyright: © 2010 Meek et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

The mechanism(s) by which p53 chooses between outcomes of senescence or quiescence has remained elusive. A paper published in the recent issue of Cell Cycle indicates that this decision may be determined by p53 levels and their ability to selectively down-regulate mTOR signaling.