We exposed several types of human cancer cell lines (THP-1, Colo 205 and MCF-7) for 24 h to 100 μM BH3I-1 (5-[(4-bromophenyl)methylene]-a-(1-methylethyl)-4-oxo-2-thioxo-3-thiazolidineacetic acid), which is a synthetic cell-permeable Bcl-XL antagonist that induces apoptosis (by inhibiting the interactions between the BH3 domain and Bcl-XL thus defunctionalising mitochondria) (23). Here, BCL2L1 is linked to cancer.