Function
Acts as a tumor suppressor in many tumor types; induces growth arrest or apoptosis depending on the physiological circumstances and cell type. Involved in cell cycle regulation as a trans-activator that acts to negatively regulate cell division by controlling a set of genes required for this process. One of the activated genes is an inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases. Apoptosis induction seems to be mediated either by stimulation of BAX and FAS antigen expression, or by repression of Bcl-2 expression. Implicated in Notch signaling cross-over. Isoform 2 enhances the transactivation activity of isoform 1 from some but not all TP53-inducible promoters. Isoform 4 suppresses transactivation activity and impairs growth suppression mediated by isoform 1. Isoform 7 inhibits isoform 1-mediated apoptosis.
Tissue Specificity
Ubiquitous. Isoforms are expressed in a wide range of normal tissues but in a tissue-dependent manner. Isoform 2 is expressed in most normal tissues but is not detected in brain, lung, prostate, muscle, fetal brain, spinal cord and fetal liver. Isoform 3 is expressed in most normal tissues but is not detected in lung, spleen, testis, fetal brain, spinal cord and fetal liver. Isoform 7 is expressed in most normal tissues but is not detected in prostate, uterus, skeletal muscle and breast. Isoform 8 is detected only in colon, bone marrow, testis, fetal brain and intestine. Isoform 9 is expressed in most normal tissues but is not detected in brain, heart, lung, fetal liver, salivary gland, breast or intestine.
