In short, there exist some discrepancies about the specific role of p53 in skin cancer, which could be related to inaccurate estimation of p53 inactivation in the experiments involving cre-mediated tissue-specific p53 knock-out, to differences among the experiments regarding the genetic background of the animal models or to differences in the p53 status in dermal cells and the possible existence of cell non-autonomous effects of p53. The gene discussed is TP53; the disease is skin cancer.