RelA Life and Death Decisions

Mediating life and death decisions.

Assume for just a moment that you are lying in a nursing home bed. You have advanced Alzheimer's disease, that is, you cannot walk, you cannot bathe, dress, or feed yourself, or carry out your most private of functions. You no longer recognize your family or your caretakers. You are not in pain but your cognitive awareness is significantly limited. Your disease has reached a point where you can...

Life-or-Death Decisions upon Axonal Damage

In this issue of Neuron, Hu et al. (2012) report that upon axonal damage, CHOP and XBP1 unfolded protein response pathways are not recruited equally and have opposite effects on neuronal survival. XBP1 pathway boosting may represent a valuable neuroprotective strategy.

The complexity of life and death decisions in mitosis

The anticancer drug taxol stabilizes microtubules and activates the spindle checkpoint, causing prolonged mitotic arrest in cancer cells. Our recent work suggests that the cellular decision to live or die following mitotic arrest is a complex process involving crosstalk between competing apoptotic and adaptation pathways.

Death and life decisions: who is in control?

Life and death decisions: a reply to Judge Peccarelli.