BAX and familial pancreatic carcinoma: Since Bcl-2 Family proteins play important roles in apoptosis by functioning as promoters (e.g., Bax) or inhibitors (e.g., Bcl-2 or Bcl-xL ) of cell death process, we next studied the changes in the levels of of Bax, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL in pancreatic cancer cells.