Abstract

REVIEW Apoptosis, an evolutionarily conserved form of cell suicide, requires specialized machinery. The central component of this machinery is a proteolytic system involving a family of proteases called caspases. These enzymes participate in a cascade that is triggered in response to proapoptotic signals and culminates in cleavage of a set of proteins, resulting in disassembly of the cell. Understanding caspase regulation is intimately linked to the ability to rationally manipulate apoptosis for therapeutic gain.

Keywords

ProteasesCaspaseCell biologyCleavage (geology)ApoptosisBiologyCaspase 2Proteolytic enzymesIntrinsic apoptosisProgrammed cell deathEnzymeGeneticsBiochemistry

Affiliated Institutions

Related Publications

Publication Info

Year
1998
Type
review
Volume
281
Issue
5381
Pages
1312-1316
Citations
6894
Access
Closed

External Links

Social Impact

Altmetric
PlumX Metrics

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

6894
OpenAlex

Cite This

Nancy A. Thornberry, Yuri Lazebnik (1998). Caspases: Enemies Within. Science , 281 (5381) , 1312-1316. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.281.5381.1312

Identifiers

DOI
10.1126/science.281.5381.1312