Total RNA (1 mg) was reverse transcribed using Moloney murine leukaemia virus reverse transcriptase (Promega, Madison, WI, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions. DRAK2, COX-2 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were quantified by RT -PCR using SYBR Green Universal Master Mix (Roche Diagnostics Corp., Indianapolis, IN, USA) . Reactions were carried out in a 96-well format in the ABI 7700 Sequence Detector (PerkinElmer/Applied Biosystems, Warrington, Cheshire, UK). Results were then normalised to 18S rRNA amplified from the same cDNA mix and expressed as fold induction compared with the controls. cDNAs were amplified using the following primer pairs: DRAK2, AAAATAGGGCATGCGTGTGAA and TATTATACC AATATTCCACATATCTGTTGCT; COX-2, TTGTACCCGGACAGG ATTCTATG and TGTTTGGAGTGGGTTTCAGAAATA; VEGF, CA TGCAGATTATGCGGATCAA and TTTGTTGTGCTGTAGGAAGCT CAT. Bax and Bcl-xl quantification was performed using TaqMan pre-developed assay reagents according to the manufacturer's protocol (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA).