To determine whether treatment of cancer cells with HME triggers a more general anti-tumoral response apart from the observed cytotoxic effects, the percentage of apoptotic cells were assessed with Annexin V-Phycoerythrin (Annexin V-PE) and 7-Amino-Actinomycin (7-AAD) double staining (Fig. 1; Additional file 2: Fig. S1; Additional file 1: Table S3) and subsequently coupled to flow cytometry following treatment with HME for 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 24 h. This evidence concerns the gene ANXA5 and cancer.