[Hui-Chih Hung] New Discovery that PAD4 Suppresses the Anticancer Function of p53 through Citrullination
Professor Hui-Chih Hung and her research team discovered that peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) directly citrullinates the tumor suppressor protein p53, impairing its structural integrity and DNA-binding ability. This modification compromises p53-mediated regulation of the cell cycle and apoptosis, thereby weakening its tumor-suppressive function. The study reveals a previously unrecognized molecular mechanism involved in cancer development and identifies PAD4 as a potential therapeutic target. The research was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Yang et al., 2025).
Article source: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2423526122