New plays in the p53 theater

The p53 tumor suppressor and its paralogs p63 and p73 are at the crux of a network modulating cellular responses against potentially tumorigenic events. p53 acts primarily as a transcription factor, regulating the expression of both coding and non-coding RNAs, as well as the activity of RNA processing complexes. In line with their anti-tumorigenic function, p53 and p63 have recently been implicated in restricting tumor cell invasion. In parallel, a growing number of non-canonical target genes have been added to the p53 repertoire. These include genes encoding for proteins that impinge on a broad spectrum of cellular functions, from cell metabolism to stem cell renewal. The p53 story is still far from being fully told.