Tumor Suppressor Proteins

Tumor suppressor gene products, or tumor suppressor proteins, act as barriers to block cells from proceeding down the path to cancer. In contrast to the protein products of proto-oncogenes, some tumor suppressor proteins act to restrain abnormal cell proliferation. Others promote cell death pathways or function in DNA repair. While mutated proto-oncogenes behave in a dominant fashion, tumor suppressor genes are generally recessive, thus requiring that both be inactivated or otherwise compromised in order for cancers to occur. Well-described examples of tumor suppressor proteins include RB, p53, APC and CDKN2A/p14 ARF.

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