ホモ二量体化促進物質

Ink4aを発現した老化細胞を除去することでマウスを長生きさせたというNatureの論文でAP20187が出てくるが見慣れないのでどういう仕組みか見てみると（http://www.clontech.com/US/Products/Inducible_Systems/Protein-Protein_Interactions/Dimerizer_Ligands）

Ligands for Chemically Induced Dimerization (CID)

The B/B Homodimerizer (AP20187) is a synthetic, cell-permeable ligand that can be used to induce homodimerization of fusion proteins containing the DmrB domain. The B/B Homodimerizer has been tested in vitro and in mice. It is nontoxic. We suggest testing various B/B Homodimerizer concentrations within the recommended range (0.01–100 nM for in vitro use or 0.005–10 mg/kg in mice) in order to obtain a complete dose-response profile. The homodimerizer has been widely used to study signal transduction pathways (by inducing oligomerization of cell surface receptor proteins), but it can be used to induce the activity/re-localization of any protein that is affected by oligomerization. The B/B Homodimerizer is identical to the AP20187 ligand, which was previously supplied by ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

アポトーシス誘導因子をInk4aのプロモーターで発現するようにしておいてAP20187で二量体化させると発現している細胞だけが死ぬという仕掛けらしい。アポトーシスではdeathシグナルが放出されないのでまわりの細胞に無駄な炎症ストレスを与えないということらしい。