Because NAF-1 binds to both the pro- and anti-apoptotic regions (BH3 and BH4) of BCL-2 (Tamir et al., 2014), a decrease in the cellular levels of NAF-1 in cancer cells could reduce its binding to these BCL-2 regions, making them available for interactions with different pro-apoptotic proteins, such as PUMA, NOXA and BAD, which would trigger apoptosis. Here, PMAIP1 is linked to cancer.