CASP9 and melanoma: While andrographolide enhanced the expression of Bax, caspase-3, and caspase-9, it down-regulated that of Bcl-2, leading to apoptosis in melanoma B16F-10 cells (Pratheeshkumar et al., 2012), and it promoted apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells via inhibition of STAT3 and Akt activation (Bao et al., 2013).