BNIP3, a membr of Bcl-2 family of regulator proteins that regulate cell death, has been shown to induce cell death if expression is increased and can induce classical apoptosis through cytochrome c and caspase activation in some cells.
BNIP3 is a member of the apoptotic Bcl-2 protein family. Increased expression of BNIP3 has been shown to induce cell death in different ways in multiple cell lines. BNIP3 can induce classical apoptosis through cytochrome c and caspase activation in some cells, while in others, cells have undergone autophagic cell death, occurring in the absence of apaf-1, caspase-1 or caspase 3, and without cytochrome c release. Bcl-2 (B-cell lymphoma 2), encoded in humans by the BCL2 gene, is the founding member of the Bcl-2 family of regulator proteins that regulate cell death (apoptosis), by either inhibiting (anti-apoptotic) or inducing (pro-apoptotic) apoptosis. 
