Abstract
The tumour suppressor protein p53 is one of the most well-known and well-studied proteins, with a vast amount of research dedicated to understand its role in tumour formation. Despite this, little is known about its function in normal healthy immune responses. This research demonstrates a role for p53 in a normal unstressed setting by showing that p53 loss leads to enhanced proliferation of CpG activated B cells. Furthermore, because recent research has shown that B cell proliferation is largely governed by times to intrinsically programmed fates, the core parameters of proliferation, death and division, are analysed. p53 influences proliferation by slowing the timing of divisions as well as reducing survival during the proliferative cycle. This research also provides support for recent cell fate models by showing further evidence for the presence of independent and intrinsically programmed times to cell fate.