the present disclosure relates to a method of inducing apoptosis in a cancer cell by delivery of exogenous coenzyme q1o or its metabolites thereof in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier to effectuate cell contact of endogenous coenzyme q1o or its metabolites thereof in addition to but not limited to mevalonic acid and oleic add to form an intracellular complex . the present disclosure also provides a method of modulating the p53 pathway and bcl - 2 protein family in a manner that restores the apoptotic potential to a cancer cell by delivery of coenzyme q1o in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier . the present disclosure further provides a method to specifically normalize the ratio of pro - apoptotic and anti - apopotic members of the bcl - 2 gene family in a proportion to re - program a cancer cell to undergo apoptosis .