CASP9 and central nervous system cancer: Our studies from recent years [3–5] have demonstrated that transformed roots extract of R. carthamoides possesses cytotoxic activity against human glioma cells and can induce apoptosis by disrupting mitochondrial membrane potential and increasing ROS level, altering Bax/Bcl-2 level, or by activating p53, caspase-3, or caspase-9.