In this study, we have therefore investigated the effects of TRAIL-induced programmed necrosis on a panel of 14 distinct human cancer cell lines of diverse origin (i.e. leukemia (U-937, CCRF-CEM), gall bladder adenocarcinoma (Mz-ChA-1), pancreatic adenocarcinoma (BxPC-3, Colo357, Panc89, PancTu-I, A818-4, Pt45P1), colorectal adenocarcinoma (HT-29), gastric adenocarcinoma (MKN-28), ovary adenocarcinoma (SK-OV-3), non-small cell lung carcinoma (KNS-62) and malignant melanoma (SK-Mel-28)). The gene discussed is TNFSF10; the disease is cancer.