APAF1 and cancer: To explore whether CUR could reactivate the TSGs that were downregulated in colon cancer, we intersected the 1,217 tumor suppressor genes that were downregulated in colon cancer from TCGA database (https://bioinfo.uth.edu/TSGene/) with 135 genes that were upregulated in cancer pathways in HCT116 under the treatment of CUR, 37 TSGs that were reactivated under the action of CUR were obtained, including ARHGEF12, APAF1, VHL, CEBPA, CASP8 et al (Figure 4A).