p53 Mutation: Critical Mediator of Therapy Resistance against Tumor Microenvironment

There has been a trend of use of conventional or non-conventional therapies against cancer such as targeting “king pin” tumor cells itself, targeting tumor vasculature lined by endothelial cells, targeting tumor associated macrophages and recently, targeting inhibitory signals on T cells through immunotherapies in tumor microenvironment (TME). However, most of the cases have witnessed therapy resistance flowing a short-term or transient benefit. Despite of several failures in clinical trials targeting tumors and their microenvironments, our understanding is improving every day. It is evident that mutations in tumor cell compartment play a critical role in cancer development as well as therapy resistance. Here, we have discussed studies representing therapy resistance, through p53 as a model mutation and glioblastoma (GBM) as a model tumor.