Since fluvastatin, a type of statin drug, has been reported to induce autophagy in lung cancer cells through the p53-AMPK-mTOR pathway via fluvastatin-induced AMPK phosphorylation and mTOR (Ser-2448) dephosphorylation26, we next examined the signalling pathway involved in autophagy in cancer cells treated with simvastatin. This evidence concerns the gene TP53 and cancer.