Lycopene may stimulate gap junction communication between cells. It is speculated that lycopene may suppress carcinogen-induced phosphorylation of regulatory proteins such as p53 and Rb antioncogenes and stop cell division at the G0-G1 cell cycle phase. One researcher has hypothesized that lycopene-induced modulation of the liver metabolizing enzyme cytochrome P450 2E1 may be the underlying mechanism of protection against carcinogen-induced preneoplastic lesions in the rat liver.lycopene may also reduce cellular proliferation induced by insulin-like growth factors. there is some preliminary in vitro evidence for the latter proposal.