XIAP and Hyperglycemia: Moreover, our obtained data showed that the nortropane alkaloids effectively hampered the overexpression of a set of caspases—including Caspase-3, -9, -7, -8 and -6—that are critically involved in hyperglycemia-dependent apoptosis, oxidative and ER stress, as hyperglycemia has been shown to critically modulate cellular caspase inhibitors, including the X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) protein [28].