Hence, one likely explanation is that the sublethal cellular stress induced by absence of ATG7 in oncogene-primed melanocytes might be recognized by p53, which then attempts to kill the cell by inducing apoptosis, preventing further proliferation and/or transformation; and if so, tumor suppression occurs through a p53 pathway but not necessarily by autophagy deficiency. This evidence concerns the gene TP53 and neoplasm.