Cross Talk Between Oxidative Stress and p53 Family Members in Regulating Cancer

p53 family members form one of the most versatile groups of proteins with diverse functions including tumor suppression, regulation of embryonic development and cellular metabolism, and cell death. The p53 family namely p53, p63, and p73 exhibits considerable similarity and thus is able to cross-regulate their target genes. Further complications arise with expression of multiple isoforms of these p53 family members from usage of different promoters and alternative splicing. The isoforms, specially the N terminally truncated isoforms, have been reported to play very crucial role in the regulation of p53 family members itself and their target genes. Oxidative stress, a two-edged sword, plays vital role in cellular environment to regulate cell survival, death, metabolism, and ultimately diseases such as cancer. The fates of p53 family and oxidative stress are complexly intertwined with cross-regulation at many levels. The intricacies of this cross-regulation are further complicated by the presence of numerous isoforms of each p53 family member. Consequently, it is imperative to delineate the involvement and cross-regulation of p53 family isoforms and oxidative stress in diseases such as cancer. This chapter focuses on deciphering the involvement and intricate cross-regulation of p53 family members and oxidative stress in genomic integrity, cellular metabolism, and cell death in the light of cancer.