A new study isolated a drug from a 15,000 compound chemical library that can inhibit a nonapoptotic form of programmed cell death. This novel pathway appears independent of the canonical apoptotic pathway and the drug allows for detailed study of this phenomenon.
The largest impact of this study, I feel, is when they gave the drug to a stroke-model mouse. The results indicate a significant inhibition of cell death following injury. These data indicate a novel programmed cell death pathway and possible new avenue for stroke-injury therapy.
http://www.the-scientist.com/news/20050531/01
http://www.nature.com/nchembio/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nchembio711.html
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