TP53 and cancer: As described for other anti-cancer alkaloids [52, 63], our results indicate that VTD can mediate transcriptional activity of the UBXN2A promoter, increasing the UBXN2A protein level in vitro and in vivo and resulting in upregulation of p53 protein in both the cytoplasm and the nucleus compartment, where p53 induces apoptosis and cell death [4].