Interestingly, in recent years there is much evidence supporting a role for Caspase-3 in paracrine signalling, which may also influence signal transduction and gene expression changes in neighbouring cells that themselves did not activate caspases.6, 26, 27 Analysis of TMAs of stage 2 and 3 CRC tumours revealed that low levels of active Caspase-3 conferred a significant survival advantage. The gene discussed is CASP3; the disease is colorectal carcinoma.