BCL2L1 and liver disorder: 2002; Dorman et al. 2004). Since hepatocyte death in liver disorders most likely has both a necrotic and apoptotic component, HO-1 induction, and hence metformin, could be beneficial in liver disorders accompanied by extensive apoptotic and/or necrotic hepatocyte death. Increased HO-1 expression has also been shown to correlate with increased expression of anti-apoptotic bcl-2 family members like bcl-xl (Goodman et al. 2007; Banerjee et al. 2012).