自1979年p53基因被发现以来,p53基因是迄今发现与人类肿瘤相关性最高的抑癌基因,几乎50%人类肿瘤与p53突变有关。研究发现,癌基因和抑癌基因常以家族形式出现,如ras有H-ras、K-ras、N-ras、Rb有p107和p130,myc有c-myc、N-myc、L-myc。p53作为重要的抑癌基因,推测也应该存在其基因家族。最近,Kaghad等报道发现了p73基因,其蛋白产物与p53蛋白在结构和功能上具有相似性, Since the p53 gene was discovered in 1979, the p53 gene has so far been found to have the highest correlation with human tumor suppressor genes, and almost 50% of human tumors are associated with p53 mutations. Studies have found that oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes often appear in family form, such as ras with H-ras, K-ras, N-ras, Rb with p107 and p130, myc with c-myc, N-myc, L-myc. As an important tumor suppressor gene, p53 is supposed to exist in its gene family. Recently, Kaghad et al. reported the discovery of the p73 gene, whose protein products are similar in structure and function to the p53 protein.