The eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) plays important roles in transformation and cancer progression. It is frequently overexpressed in malignant cells, one mechanism of which is through transcriptional activation by c-myc. Here, we report that high level of eIF4E expression and its tumorigenicity could be alternatively associated with defects of p53, since we found that induction of wt-p53 repressed eIF4E expression. Gene transfection of p53 inhibited eIF4E promoter activity, while inactivation of p53 either by mutation or by over-expression of MDM2 resulted in stimulation of eIF4E promoter activity. We demonstrated that p53-repression of eIF4E was regulated by c-myc. The wt-p53 can physically bind to c-myc, which inhibited binding of c-myc to eIF4E promoter and c-myc-stimulated promoter activity. These results suggest that the expression of eIF4E is reciprocally regulated by p53 and c-myc, and loss of p53-mediated control over c-myc-dependent transactivation of eIF4E may represent a novel mechanism for eIF4E-mediated neoplastic transformation and cancer progression.