University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine scientists have developed a high-throughput functional cell-based screen using bioluminescence imaging to identify small molecules that modulate p53 transcriptional activity or p53-related proteins in cancer cells, and exhibit anti-cancer activity in human colon cancer xenografts.

The study underscores the importance of p53-related pathways and downstream molecules as potential drug targets, and could help establish bioluminescent cell-based assays as an effective way to screen modulators of such targets.