Nonsurvivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) are known to exhibit higher levels of caspase-3 in contused brain tissue than do survivors. Now, Lorente et al. report that serum caspase-3 levels are also linked to increased mortality. Caspase-3 inhibitors have been shown to reduce apoptosis in rat models of TBI, making suppression of apoptotic activity a potential novel strategy to treat TBI.
References
Lorente, L. et al. Serum caspase-3 levels and mortality are associated in patients with severe traumatic brain injury. BMC Neurol. 15, 28 (2015)
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High serum caspase-3 level confers poor prognosis after TBI. Nat Rev Neurol 11, 668 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2015.211
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2015.211