To investigate the regulation of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins that might be involved in the induction of apoptosis, we determined the amount of Survivin, Bcl-XL, Bid, XIAP and Bax proteins, and determined phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) after LiCl treatment of tumour cells. Here, BIRC5 is linked to neoplasm.