Examples of suitable antisense oligonucleotides include, for example oblimersen sodium (also known as Genasense™ or G31239, developed by Genta, Inc., Berkeley Heights, N.J.), a phosphorothioate oligomer targeted towards the initiation codon region of the bcl-2 mRNA. Bc1-2 is a potent inhibitor of apoptosis and is overexpressed in many cancer including follicular lymphomas, breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and intermediate/high-grade lymphomas (C. A. Stein et al., Semin. Oncol., 2005, 32: 563-573; S. R. Frankel, Semin. Oncol., 2003, 30: 300-304).