BAX and neoplasm: Figure 5 represents the mRNA levels of bax, bcl2 and bax/bcl2 ratio. A statistically significant reduction of bax gene expression was observed in tumor tissue from patients with metastasis (Figure 5a). For bcl2 gene, the levels of mRNA were significantly lower in all groups of patients (Figure 5b). Figure 5 panel c demonstrates that the presence of metastases exerted a reduction of bax/bcl2 ratio in tumor tissue, even if not statistically significant.