Given our previous finding that procaspase-9 is inhibited in NSCLC H460 cells [15], we started our investigation by examining the expression levels of the main apoptosome components Apaf-1 and caspase-9, in a broader panel of lung cancer cell lines, including the NSCLC cell lines H460, SW1573, A549 and H322, and the SCLC cell lines GLC4, N417 and H187 by Western blotting. The gene discussed is CASP9; the disease is small cell lung carcinoma.