CASP3 and neoplasm: For example, TQ pretreatment following Gemcitabine administration synergistically increased apoptosis and inhibited tumor growth both in vitro on human pancreatic cancer cell lines PANC-1, BxPC-3 and AsPC-1 and in vivo models on PANC-1 cells orthotopic xenograft mice by: (i) suppressing Notch1, NICD and Akt/mTOR/S6 signaling pathways, (ii) decreasing antiapoptotic proteins, such as Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and XIAP, and increasing the activation of proapoptotic molecules, including caspase-3, -9 and Bax and (iii) inhibiting the phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of p65 [113].