The role of p53, the original "guardian of the genome", in skin has remained elusive. We have explored p53 function in human epidermal cells and demonstrated the importance of a mitosis-differentiation checkpoint to suppress potentially precancerous cells. This model places epidermal endoreplication as an antioncogenic mechanism in the face of irreparable genetic alterations.
Keywords: DNA damage; DNA repair; MDC; OID; mitotic slippage; replication stress.