CASP9 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Furthermore, compound 1 could induce apoptosis of HCC cells (Figure 3) via the mitochondrial pathway (Figure 6), i.e., the generation of ROS (Figure 4), the loss of ΔΨm (Figure 4), the disequilibration of anti-apoptotic (Bcl-2) and pro-apoptotic (BAX, Bad) proteins, the release of mitochondrial Cytochrome c, and the activation of Caspase-9 and -3 (Figure 4 and Figure 5).