Further investigation revealed that sorbitol-evoked apoptosis occurred in colorectal cancer HCT116 cells via the mitochondrial death cascade, with an upregulation of Bax, downregulation of Bcl-2 and the release of cytochrome c. Furthermore, the results revealed that sorbitol was able to increase the level of phosphorylation of p38, which then activated the p38 MAPK pathway. Here, BCL2 is linked to colorectal cancer.