Heat-killed S. cerevisiae induced apoptosis in cancer cells, the SW480 cell line, by up-regulating Bax, cleaved caspase 3 and cleaved caspase 9, and down-regulating p-Akt1, Bcl-XL, Rel A, procaspase 3 and procaspase 9 expressions. The gene discussed is AKT1; the disease is cancer.