CASP3 and familial pancreatic carcinoma: 4 reported that the depletion of TPX2-induced caspase-3-mediated apoptosis in a pancreatic cancer cell line. Chang and Yan reported that the suppression of TPX2 resulted in cell cycle arrest not only in the G2/M phase but also in the S and G1 phases, in various cancer cell lines 7,27. These reports suggest that the disturbance of mitosis is primarily responsible for the antiproliferative effect of TPX2 depletion. The IGFBP-3-induced antiproliferative effect in cancer cells may also be responsible for the growth inhibition of the pancreatic cancer cells 24.