CASP12 and myocardial ischemia: Cerebral ischemia induces ER stress, in part, via caspase-12 activation.46, 47 Recently, ER stress was found to be correlated with autophagic activation.48, 49 In yeast, ER stress was found to stimulate the assembly of the phagophore assembly site, induce autophagosome formation, and transport autophagosomes to vacuoles.20, 49 In a myocardial ischemia/reperfusion model, autophagy induction through therapeutic levels of ER stress inducers was found to prevent lethal injury.48, 49 Following ischemia, damaged protein aggregates and organelles accumulate due to defects in autophagy.