The functional relevance of MCL-1 and BFL-1 for NPC cell survival was first determined using the CRISPR/Cas9 technique and later the parental and MCL-1/BFL-1 manipulated NPC cells were subjected to treatment with selective BH3-mimetics to complement the gene-editing studies and to also investigate the translational relevance of the BH3-mimetics for NPC management. The gene discussed is MCL1; the disease is nasopharyngeal carcinoma.