EP53-anc

EP53-anc refers to the ancestral copy of the TP53 tumor suppressor gene found in elephants. While humans possess only a single copy of TP53, elephants have evolved 20 copies, including one ancestral gene with introns (EP53-anc) and 19 retrogenes. Developed through a collaborative research effort involving the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, EP53-anc is being investigated as a potential cancer therapeutic. Preclinical studies have demonstrated that expressing EP53-anc in human cancer cell lines—such as osteosarcoma (U2-OS, Saos-2), glioblastoma (T98G), and breast cancer (MCF7)—induces significant apoptosis and restores p21 expression. The protein appears to be effective even in genetic backgrounds that typically confer resistance to human p53, such as MDM2 overexpression or TP53 mutations, suggesting a novel mechanism for bypassing human cancer resistance.

Other names

elephant TP53 ancestral geneelephant p53 ancestral geneEP53 ancestral geneEP-53 ancestral geneEP 53 ancestral gene