CASP9 and familial pancreatic carcinoma: To further investigate the possible mechanism of orexin-A-inhibited apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells, we next examined the expression of Bcl-2, caspase-9, and c-myc proteins, which are key factors in cell apoptosis (25–27), in orexin-A-incubated PANC1 cells with or without SB408124 treatment.