BAK1 and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: Pavlova et al. demonstrated that HOPX knockdown in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cells accelerated apoptosis, evident by an elevated activity of caspases-3/7, downregulation of pro-survival proteins like BCL2 (B-cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 protein) and MCL1 (induced myeloid leukemia cell differentiation protein), and an upregulation of pro-apoptotic effectors including BAX (BCL2 associated X) and BAK (BCL2 antagonist/killer 1), BH3-only proteins, and caspase-8 [78].