We recently demonstrated for the first time that Npas4 may have the capacity to regulate the brain’s inflammatory response to stroke since genetic ablation of Npas4 significantly increased activated astrocyte and microglial cell numbers, pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α levels and caused a switch from apoptotic to necrotic cell death in mice subjected to photochemical stroke [26]. The gene discussed is NPAS4; the disease is Stroke.