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Letter

Nature Cell Biology 10, 1324–1332 (1 November 2008) | doi:10.1038/ncb1791

Formation of stress granules inhibits apoptosis by suppressing stress-responsive MAPK pathways

Kyoko Arimoto , Hiroyuki Fukuda , Shinobu Imajoh-Ohmi , Haruo Saito & Mutsuhiro Takekawa

When confronted with environmental stress, cells either activate defence mechanisms to survive, or initiate apoptosis, depending on the type of stress. Certain types of stress, such as hypoxia, heatshock and arsenite (type 1 stress), induce cells to assemble cytoplasmic stress granules (SGs), a major adaptive defence mechanism.