| Caspases (cysteinyl-directed aspartate-specifi c proteases)1-3 are central components
in propagating the process of programmed cell death (apoptosis) in response to proapoptotic
signals. Inactive in healthy cells, members of the caspase family not only
act to initiate the intracellular event cascade (Caspase-2, -8, -9, -10) but also operate
further downstream directing cellular breakdown through cleavage of structural
proteins (Caspase-3, -6, -7) and cytokine processing (Caspase-1, -4, -5, -11 to –14).
Identifi cation of the active caspases indicates how far cells have progressed in the
apoptotic program. |
