Anti-tubulins DEPendably induce apoptosis.

Anti-tubulin drugs are life-saving chemotherapeutics that kill cancer cells by stabilizing or disrupting microtubules. Despite their clinical utility, the molecular mechanisms by which anti-tubulins cause apoptotic cell death remain poorly understood. It is now shown that microtubule disruption can inhibit anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins through an evolutionarily conserved signalling axis involving DEPDC1 (LET-99 in Caenorhabditis elegans) and JNK.