BCL2 and cancer: In AML, miR-29 expression is negatively correlated with MCL-1 mRNA, while in HCC BCL-2 and MCL-1 were both direct targets of miR-29; both of these findings support the theory that miR-29 functions as a tumor suppressor in cancer by promoting apoptosis (Garzon et al., 2009b;Xiong et al., 2010).