Researchers uncover how tumors become resistant to promising p53-targeted therapy
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 21-Jun-2026 15:15 ET (21-Jun-2026 19:15 GMT/UTC)
Mutations in the tumor suppressor TP53 are a common cause of cancer, making the altered protein an attractive target for therapeutics. Among them, the Y220C mutation is the ninth most frequent and it creates a small crevice in the mutant protein that is not present in the wild type conformation. This druggable cavity has led to the development of small molecules such as rezatapopt that are designed to restore p53 and reactivate its normal tumor suppressor function. Rezatapopt has shown promising efficacy in early studies, but as with most targeted therapies, patients can eventually develop resistance to treatment.
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