p53: Pro-aging or pro-longevity?

p53: Pro-aging or pro-longevity?

continues to surprise biologists. For nearly a decade, it was thought to be an oncogene [1, 2], only to be subsequently declared a potent tumor suppressor [3, 4]. Initially characterized as a transcriptional activator, we now know p53 is also a transcriptional repressor [5]. And just as it seemed p53 activities were confined to the nucleus, it became apparent that p53 also functioned in the cyt...

Two sides of lifespan regulating genes: pro-longevity or anti-longevity?

Traditionally, ageing has been considered a passive and entropic process, in which damages accumulate on biological macromolecules over time and the accumulated damages lead to a decline in overall physiological functions. However, the discovery of a longevity mutant in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has challenged this view. A longevity mutant is a mutant organism, in which a reduction-of...

Transcription-independent pro-apoptotic functions of p53.

Induction of apoptosis is one of the central activities by which p53 exerts its tumor-suppressing function. Aside from its primary function as a transcription factor, it can promote apoptosis independent of transcription. Recent studies have started to define the mechanisms of non-transcriptional pro-apoptotic p53 activities operating within the intrinsic mitochondria-mediated pathway of apopto...

Strategies for Pro-Poor Growth: Pro-Poor, Pro-Growth or Both

Cracks in social gerontology's pro-aging edifice.

“I sometimes point out the parallel with the situation 100 or so years ago when we figured out that hygiene could actually save rather a lot of lives of infants. You know, we could have said to ourselves, ‘Oh dear, there will be terrible overpopulation if we save all these lives with everybody having 10 kids. Let’s not do it. Let’s carry on letting these infants die.’ But we didn’t do that . . ...