p53 was discovered in 1979 in SV40-transformed cells as a cellular protein that forms a complex with the large T antigen (DeLeo et al., 1979; Kress et al., 1979; Lane and Crawford, 1979; Linzer and Levine, 1979). It was originally identified as an oncoprotein, but was shown to be a tumor suppressor ten years later by both in vitro experiments and human tumor sample studies (Baker et al., 1989; ...