Without platelets, blood doesn’t clot and wounds don’t heal. Transfusions of platelets save many lives, but platelets have a shelf life of only a few days. There might soon be a way to extend that, however.
David Huang and Benjamin Kile of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, Australia, have discovered that the lifespan of platelets is dictated by the levels of a protein called Bcl-xL, which dwindle as platelets age (Cell, vol 128, p 1173).
Bcl-xL works by blocking the action of another protein called Bak, which would otherwise trigger programmed cell death. The researchers are…
