To study the roles of p53 pathway in Aurora-A tumorigenesis, we used HCT116 human colorectal cancer cell line overexpressing Aurora-A [21], and its isogenic derivatives, in which p53-associated genes (p53, p21, Puma, Bax and Chk2) are stably knocked out in vitro (17–20). This evidence concerns the gene CHEK2 and colorectal cancer.