Caspase

Caspases are a family of cysteine-aspartyl proteases that execute apoptosis and orchestrate inflammatory signaling by cleaving specifically after aspartate residues. Initiator caspases such as CASP8, CASP9, and CASP10 activate death receptor and mitochondrial pathways, while effector caspases CASP3, CASP6, and CASP7 dismantle the cell through hundreds of substrates. The inflammatory caspases CASP1, CASP4, and CASP5 (CASP11 in mice) process interleukin-1 beta and gasdermin D downstream of inflammasome activation. Dysregulated caspase activity underlies neurodegeneration, cancer, and inflammatory disease, and recombinant caspase proteins paired with fluorogenic substrates are standard tools for apoptosis assays and inhibitor screening.