BCL2 and neoplasm: Expression of Bcl-2, which is an anti-apoptotic protein that promotes cell survival [210], was significantly (p = 0.05) downregulated in MCPyV-positive non-small cell lung cancer samples compared to virus-negative tumours and healthy adjacent tissue, while there were no significant differences in mRNA levels of the pro-apoptotic Bax gene between the different specimens [116].