Cell 141, 231–242 (2010)

The plant toxin ricin is a potential bioterror agent for which there is no treatment. Researchers in France used high-throughput screening to look for small molecules that could protect cells against this compound in vitro. They found two, one of which markedly increased the survival rate of ricin-intoxicated mice.

Daniel Gillet at the Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission in Gif-sur-Yvette, Ludger Johannes at the Curie Institute in Paris and their colleagues found that the small molecules blocked a key step in the trafficking of the toxin in the cell. This prevents it from reaching an organelle called the endoplasmic reticulum and moving on to inhibit protein biosynthesis.

They also found that the two molecules conferred similar beneficial effects on cells exposed to Shiga-like toxins, which are produced by certain disease-causing bacteria.