BAX and cancer: Our data showed that paclitaxel direct treatment significantly (p < 0.05) increased pro-apoptotic Bax mRNA expression levels and Bax/Bcl-2 mRNA expression ratio in the PC-3 cells as compared to that in the vehicle control (VC) (Table 1), suggesting that paclitaxel direct treatment may inhibit PC-3 cell growth through promoting cancer cell apoptosis.