Moreover, in the epithelial cancer cells and zebrafish embryos, the peptide challenge (i) caused significant changes in the cytomorphology and induced apoptosis; (ii) triggered ROS generation; and (iii) showed a significant up-regulation of anti-cancer genes including BAX, Caspase 3, Caspase 9 and down-regulation of Bcl-2, in vitro. This evidence concerns the gene CASP9 and cancer.