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The study authors conclude that it is very likely that minocycline's neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects are due to PARP-1 inhibition.

"This doesn't exclude the possibility that it has other actions," says Swanson, "but as far as we can tell, the only way it blocks inflammation is by blocking PARP-1."

Swanson says the results have implications beyond the general principle that "it helps to know how a drug is working."

One is potentially negative. "In blocking PARP-1, you block DNA repair," he cautions. "That will likely be true of minocycline. And in blocking DNA repair you conceivably increase the risk of cancer. In clinical trials where people are taking minocycline for months at a time, I think that investigators need to take this into consideration – although for someone with a serious neurodegenerative disease like ALS, it could be a reasonable tradeoff. But you want to have your eyes open."