Recently, some studies on the mechanisms of AFP suggested that AFP induced apoptosis in tumor cells independently of Fas/Fas ligand or TNFR/TNF signaling pathway, and AFP-mediated cell death involved activation of the effector caspase-3-like proteases, but was independent of upstream activation of the initiator caspase-1, caspase-8, and caspase-9-like proteases [9]. The gene discussed is FAS; the disease is neoplasm.