In agreement with the results of the present study, the induction of apoptosis in drug or functional material-treated cancer cells has been reported to increase Bax, p53, p21, Apaf-1, caspase-3,-8,-9 and Fas gene expression, and decrease Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and FasL gene expression (9,29–32). The gene discussed is CASP3; the disease is cancer.