In
response to
cellular stress such as DNA damage, oncogene activation, transcriptional inhibition, and
hypoxia, tumor suppressor p53 is activated and expressed, and acts as a transcription factor to induce its target genes [1], thereby playing a central role in the regulation of DNA repair, cell cycle, apoptosis, senescence, and angiogenesis [2 - 4].
Autophagy, a
cellular cleaning process, gets activated in
response to certain types of metabolic stress, including nutrient deprivation, growth factor depletion and
hypoxia.