BCL2 and small cell lung carcinoma: In recent studies in Bcl-2-positive lymphoid malignancies, we found that the caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk inhibits BIRD-2-induced apoptosis.31 In the present work, however, two caspase inhibitors, Z-VAD-fmk and q-VD-OH, did not inhibit BIRD-2-induced death of SCLC cells.