Protecting normal cells from the cytotoxicity of chemotherapy

Abstract

Comment on: van Leeuwen IMM, et al. Cell Cycle 2012; 11:1851-61

Figure 1. Harnessing p53-dependent cell cycle arrest to protect normal cells and render selective drug toxicity to p53 mutant cells. Sequential drug therapy using a p53-activating drug that results in cell cycle arrest in normal cells and a second drug that targets only proliferating cells (any S- or M-phase specific poisons), results in selective killing of p53-deficient tumor cells while sparing normal cells.