Strikingly, serum-nutrient withdrawal combined with the ABT 737 compound induced cell death in wild-type or p53−/− HCT116 cell lines and in breast cancer cell lines containing a wild-type p53 or mutant p53 protein (such as the p53 mutant (R280K) MDA-MB 231 and (R249S) BT549 cells (data not shown). This evidence concerns the gene TP53 and breast carcinoma.