CASP9 and central nervous system cancer: One plant showing a wide spectrum of biological activity is Rhaponticum carthamoides; it has been found to demonstrate antioxidant activity and is capable of inducing apoptosis in glioma cells by disrupting mitochondrial membrane potential and increasing ROS level, altering Bax/Bcl-2 level, activating p53, caspase-3, or caspase-9, inducing DNA damage or PARP cleavage, and increasing the level of phosphorylated H2A.X [3–5].