Mutagenesis in the P53 gene

Tumor associated mutations in the P53 mutation data base are providing indirect evidence that links specific environmental mutagens with specific types of human cancer. Because of its large mutational target size and the possibly limited involvement of selection, DNA damage and repair rate maps of specific environmental carcinogens can be correlated with the mutational spectra of certain types of human cancer. Experiments with UV light and the cigarette smoke carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene have shown that these damage/repair data have the potential to predict the mutational spectra in human nonmelanoma skin cancers and lung cancers. Perhaps, future studies may help to implicate Causative agents involved in cancers for which exogenous mutagens have been suspected, such as colon and breast cancer, but the exact carcinogen has not yet been identified.