TAp73 alpha is Upregulated in the Most Common Human Cancers

The transcription factor p73 is a member of the p53 tumor suppressor gene family and one of the key regulators of apoptosis. TP73 gene encodes two protein isoforms classes with diverse functions, TAp73 and DNp73, and TAp73 expression in tumor tissues is altered. Unlike the TP53 gene, TP73 is not mutated in cancers. Here, we sought to explore the expression of p73 isoforms across eight major cancer types using the publicly available data deposited at the GDC data portal and the TSVdb database. Our results showed that TAp73 alpha is overexpressed in breast invasive carcinoma, stomach adenocarcinoma, lung squamous cell carcinoma, colon adenocarcinoma, and esophageal carcinoma tumors, whereas the expression of DNp73 isoforms is downregulated in breast invasive carcinoma (DNp73 alpha,beta,gamma), Prostate Adenocarcinoma (DNp73 beta), Lung Adenocarcinoma (DNp73 alpha), Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma (DNp73 alpha) tumors. In summary, this study revealed that TAp73 alpha has higher expression than the DNp73 isoforms in several cancer types