TP53 and breast cancer: To test a well-characterized protein that may accumulate due to mitochondrial dysfunction, p53 was investigated because genetic point mutations are known to increase the protein’s propensity to aggregate under low pH conditions34, mitochondrial dysfunction causes cytosolic acidosis35, amyloid-like protein aggregates co-localize with p53 in human breast cancer biopsies and MDA-MB-231 cells34,36,37, and preclinical studies have demonstrated that p53-positive aggregates resist degradation and contribute to chemotherapeutic resistance38.