The clinical translational potential of p53-related alterations as cancer biomarkers.

We aimed to analyse and summarise the potential value of the clinical use of p53-related alterations as cancer biomarkers. A systematic search and collection of the published meta-analyses on p53-related alterations and cancers in the past 5 years was conducted through appropriate queries in the PubMed database. We then composed "grey-scale" tables to show the significant levels for each variant, and the potential heterogeneity was subsequently discussed. The data show that p53-related alterations are extremely complex biomarkers in terms of their clinical translation. Together with the experimental studies on p53-related alterations, a gold-standard approach is still in need of development, with more evidence from clinical studies with large, prospectively planned cohorts, to fully understand its potential as a cancer biomarker.