Bcl-2 has been found to mediate the anti-apoptotic effect of nicotine in lung cancer [44] and we observed higher Bcl-2 expression in tumors of smokers (n = 265) compared to non smokers (n = 29; mean ± SE 30.8 ± 2.1 and 22.7 ± 2.96 respectively; data not shown) however this did not reach statistical significance due to small number of non smokers. The gene discussed is BCL2; the disease is lung cancer.