IN SILICO ANALYSIS OF P53 RESPONSE TO DNA DAMAGE

p53 gene and its protein product play a key role in the cell's response to DNA damage. Approximately 50% of all human cancers displays p53 mutations, and in the vast majority of the other cases the gene's functionality is otherwise impaired. In this paper a new dynamic model of p53 activation in response to double strand brakes damage (DSB) is developed. Proteins that have been left behind by other works (such as ARF) are found to be important for the dynamics of this process, which is characterized by an oscillatory behavior. A technique for assessing the system's period is also proposed.