In addition, studies found that NF-E2-related factor-2 (Nrf2) can mediate the apoptosis induced by allicin in colonic cancer cells, although Nrf2 is usually considered an anti-apoptotic factor that upregulates the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 (Bat-Chen et al., 2010; Niture and Jaiswal, 2012). This evidence concerns the gene NFE2L2 and malignant colon neoplasm.