Abstract
In recent years, radiation biologists have clarified the biological response by radiation about mechanisms of DNA damage recognition, DNA repair, signal transduction, cell cycle, cell death and etc. We have searched breakthrough for radio-cancer therapy based on the knowledge of radiation biology. The wild-type p53 gene but not mutation and deletion of p53 gene efficiently induced apoptosis by radiation. To overcome this problem, we propose a novel p53-targeting radio-cancer therapy for mutant p53 (mp53) patients with chemical chaperone (glycerol) or molecular chaperone (p53 C-terminal peptide). These strategies are based on the conformation change of mp53 protein to wtp53 protein by glycerol or p53 C-terminal peptide. In addition, we propose a combination with gene therapy of wild-type p53 (wtp53) against p53-null cells. These p53-targeted tools for enhancement of apoptosis induction might be useful for radio-cancer therapy. Here, we want to discuss the effective cancer therapy by application of advanced radiation biology. [J Radiat Res 44:377 (2003)]
