BAX and breast cancer: For example, astaxanthin has been reported to inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells by modulating different signaling pathways and molecular targets such as inhibition of cellular migration and cell number, suppressing expression levels of pontin, mutp53, Oct4, and Nanog, and activation of Bax/Bcl2, cleaved caspase-3, and cleaved caspase-9 as well as the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, JNK, and p38.