Research Advances of ASPP in Regulating Apoptosis of Tumor Cells

Under the stimulus of carcinogenic factor,p53 acts as an important apoptotic regulator to induce the cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. When the progress of cell apoptosis or programmed death is disturbed or damaged,the abnormal proliferation,malignant transformation of cells are initiated,which lead to the tumorigenesis. Recent studies have found a new gene family named ASPP which could interact with p53 family and specifically regulate the apoptosis function of p53 molecules. The findings reveal a new apoptosis regulating mechanism of p53 and provide a novel research strategy of the spinal tumorigenesis and their targeted therapy. In this paper,we aim to review the recent advances about the structure characteristics of ASPP genes,their apoptosis regulation effect on tumor cells,and the clinical significance in the diagnosis and therapy of tumors.