Figure 2.

Role of wild-type and mutant p53 in the tumor microenvironment. The p53 tumor suppressor maintains a long-term anti-cancer environment in normal cells by tuning cell metabolism and ROS levels, maintaining the genomic stability and microenvironment. Wild-type p53, via its target genes, regulates cellular metabolism mainly by enhancing DNA repair, suppressing glycolysis, decreasing HIFα expression, and modulating ROS levels. In contrast, mutant p53 enhances tumor initiation, progression, and invasiveness by suppressing DNA repair, inhibiting apoptosis, inducing Warburg Effect and ROS production.