CASP3 and breast cancer: Further, in subsequent studies on the anti-proliferative effects of Bal on liver (HepG2 and H4IIE) and breast cancer (MCF-7 and BT549) cells, we showed that Bal induced apoptosis in liver cancer cells via increasing the expression of pro-apoptotic markers involved in mitochondrial mediated (caspase-3, Bax, Bid, Bad, and p53), death receptor mediated (caspase-3 and -8) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-stress–mediated (GRP78 and CHOP) apoptotic pathways, with no effect observed in the expression of anti-apoptotic genes (Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL).