TP53 and neoplasm: Furthermore, by showing that prostate cells carrying mutated p53 alleles are able to escape from apoptosis induction, they suggest a possible selection mechanism operating in prostate cell populations exposed to cadmium toxic action, through which p53-mutated cells, that are more prone to give rise to tumor formation, may survive and become predominant, while wt p53 cells are progressively removed by apoptosis.