Description | Background: Apoptosis is a regulated physiological process leading to cell death. Caspases, a family of cysteine acid proteases, are central regulators of apoptosis. Initiator caspases (including 2, 8, 9, 10 and 12) are closely coupled to proapoptotic signals, which include the FasL, TNF-alpha, and DNA damage. Once activated, these caspases cleave and activate downstream effector caspases (including 3, 6 and 7), which in turn cleave cytoskeletal and nuclear proteins like PARP, alpha-fodrin, DFF and lamin A, and induce apoptosis. Caspase-8 (FLICE, Mch5, MACH) and Caspase-9 (ICE-LAP6, Mch6) are initiator caspases. CD95 receptor (Fas/APO-1) and tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1) activate caspase-8, leading to the release of the caspase-8 |