BAX and colorectal cancer: 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.