Skeletons in the p53 tumor suppressor closet: genetic evidence that p53 blocks bone differentiation and development

A series of in vitro tissue culture studies indicated that the p53 tumor suppressor promotes cellular differentiation, which could explain its role in preventing cancer. Quite surprisingly, however, two new in vivo studies (Lengner et al., 2006; Wang et al., 2006) provide genetic evidence that p53 blocks osteoblast differentiation and bone development. These interesting results and their biological and clinical implications are the focus of this comment.