Detection of cleaved caspase-3 in lymphocytes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and gastric surface foveolar glandular epithelia but not in synoviocytes in RA, gastric fundic glandular epithelia, or nasal NK/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL) cells suggests anti-apoptotic mechanisms in cell differentiation and in oncogenesis such as the induction of survivin. This evidence concerns the gene BIRC5 and T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.