BAX and hepatocellular carcinoma: Furthermore, simultaneous Bax up-regulation, Bcl-2 down-regulation, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage were noted in Abrus agglutinin-treated HepG2 cells, caspase-3/7 activity levels failed to increase after Bax knockout, and Bcl-2-overexpressing hepatocellular carcinoma cells were found to be ricin-resistant [29].