Roles of caspases in apoptosis, development, and cytokine maturation revealed by homozygous gene deficiencies

Jin Wang, Michael J. Lenardo

    Research output: Contribution to journalComment/debatepeer-review

    316 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Caspases are a group of cysteine proteases critical for apoptosis of eukaryotic cells. Deletion of genes that encode murine caspases suggests that caspases are involved not only in apoptosis but also in cytokine maturation and cell growth and differentiation. Among them, caspase-1 and caspase-11 are primarily involved in the processing of proinflammatory cytokines. Caspase-3 and caspase-9 are essential for apoptosis during brain development. Caspase-8 is required for the development of heart muscle, cell proliferation in the hematopoietic lineage and death-receptor-mediated apoptosis. These studies suggest that caspases function in cell signaling events including apoptosis, cell growth and differentiation.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)753-757
    Number of pages5
    JournalJournal of Cell Science
    Volume113
    Issue number5
    StatePublished - 2000

    Keywords

    • FAS/APO-1/CD95
    • Genetic deficiency
    • Homologous recombination
    • Knockout
    • ced-3

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Cell Biology

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