p53 defies convention again: a p53 mutant that has lost tumor suppression but still can kill.

Loss of tumor suppression by the p53 protein involves altered or abrogated transcriptional activity resulting in a failure to mediate wild-type cellular responses including cell cycle arrest, senescence, and apoptosis. Timofeev et al (2019) make the fascinating finding that a novel p53 cooperativity mutation devoid of DNA binding results in no tumor suppression but surprising retention of an apoptotic response to chemotherapy and other treatments. This shows a need for rethinking how mutant p53-driven tumors are treated in the clinic.