Abstract: TFAP2α is a sequence-specific DNA binding transcription factor which is required for normal growth and morphogenesis. TFAP2α can increase or decrease the expression of target genes by regulating their signal transduction, and it also plays an essential regulatory role in tumor cell proliferation, differentiation, invasion and metastasis. Recent studies find that TFAP2α is differently expressed in various tumor tissues, and its expression is closely related with tumor types, clinical stage and pathological differentiation. TFAP2α is respectively involved as tumor promoter or suppressor in distinctive carcinoma. In this article, we review the function of TFAP2α in cell proliferation, differentiation and morphogenesis, and the role in tumor genesis, its structure and mechanism of activation and degradation is briefly involved.