These observations, in concert with those recently reported by us for p53 null or mutant p53-expressing cancer cell lines [23], give credence to the caution advised by the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death [39] and others [40] with regard to the potential for misinterpreting the outcome of cell-based genotoxicity data in terms of loss of viability and hence cell death. Here, TP53 is linked to cancer.