“…As we found a close relationship between rRNA synthesis upregulation and the reduction of p53 function, we believe that a reduced tumour suppressor activity of p53 might contribute to increasing the risk of cancer development in the above mentioned tissue lesions, in which a stimulation of rRNA synthesis occurred as a consequence of the increased cell proliferation rate (Montanaro et al, 2008). Furthermore, a reduced p53 activity consequent to rRNA synthesis upregulation might explain the increased risk of cancer onset in people with obesity, insulin resistance and type II diabetes, all conditions that are characterised by a hyperinsulinemic status with activation of the insulin and IGF-1 pathways (Renehan et al, 2006(Renehan et al, , 2008Frasca et al, 2008;Cannata et al, 2010), and also might be responsible for the worse evolution of cancer in patients with the above mentioned metabolic features, by reducing the efficacy of the anti-tumour therapies that activate p53 (Renehan et al, 2006(Renehan et al, , 2008Frasca et al, 2008;Cannata et al, 2010).…”