Dr. Phillips on p53 Mutations in MCL

Tycel Jovelle Phillips, MD, clinical associate professor, the Division of Hematology and Oncology, the Rogel Cancer Center, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan Health, discusses the role of p53 mutations in the outcomes of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

Patients with MCL who harbor a p53 mutation tend to have worse outcomes than those without this mutation, as there is currently no defined treatment approach for this disease subset, Phillips says. The p53 gene is a tumor suppressor that can be affected through deletions or mutations, Phillips explains.

Since there are 2 copies of the p53 gene, p53 deletion, when chromosome 17p is lost, is often not as detrimental as a p53 mutation, since a patient may have another functional copy of the gene, Phillips notes. If 1 copy of the p53 gene is mutated, however, it will deactivate the other copy, and the patient will lose all p53 function, Phillips concludes.