α-MSH or its synthetic analog Nle4,D-Phe7-α-MSH (NDP-MSH), a tanning agent and drug approved by the European Medicines Agency for treating the photosensitive skin condition erythropoietic porphyria [14], exerts protective effects in models of ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, Alzheimer’s disease, and neuroinflammatory disease [15–18], with MC1R engagement shown to mediate this protection in the latter model. Here, STAMBP is linked to ischemic stroke.