ABSTRACT
Gene p53 regulates the cellular response to genotoxic damage and prevents carcinogenic events. Theoretical and experimental studies state that the p53-Mdm2 network constitutes the core module of regulatory interactions activated by cellular stress induced by a variety of signaling pathways. In this chapter, a strategy to control the p53-Mdm2 network regulated by p14ARF is developed, based on the pinning control technique. Pinned nodes are selected on the basis of their importance level in a topological hierarchy, their degree of connectivity within the network, and the biological role they perform. Two cases are considered. For the first case, the oscillatory pattern under gamma-radiation is recovered; for the second case, increased expression of p53 level is taken into account. For both cases, the control law is applied to p14ARF (pinned node based on a virtual leader methodology), and overexpressed Mdm2-mediated p53 degradation is considered as carcinogenic initial behavior.
