Caspase

Most caspases play a role in programmed cell death. These are summarized in the table below. The enzymes are sub classified into three types: Initiator, Executioner and Inflammatory. Note that in addition to apoptosis, caspase-8 is also required for the inhibition of another form of programmed cell death called necroptosis. Caspase-14 plays a role in epithelial cell keratinocyte differentiation and can form an epidermal barrier that protects against dehydration and UVB radiation. == Activation of caspases ==

Caspases are synthesised as inactive zymogens (pro-caspases) that are only activated following an appropriate stimulus. This post-translational level of control allows rapid and tight regulation of the enzyme. Activation involves dimerization and often oligomerisation of pro-caspases, followed by cleavage into a small subunit and large subunit. The large and small subunit associate with each other to form an active heterodimer caspase. The active enzyme often exists as a heterotetramer in the biological environment, where a pro-caspase dimer is cleaved together to form a heterotetramer. Multiprotein complexes often form during caspase activation. Some activating multiprotein complexes includes: • The death-inducing signaling complex (DISC) during extrinsic apoptosis • The apoptosome during intrinsic apoptosis • The inflammasome during pyroptosis Cleavage Once appropriately dimerised, the Caspases cleave at inter domain linker regions, forming a large and small subunit. This cleavage allows the active-site loops to take up a conformation favourable for enzymatic activity. Cleavage of Initiator and Executioner caspases occur by different methods outlined in the table below. • Initiator caspases auto-proteolytically cleave whereas Executioner caspases are cleaved by initiator caspases. This hierarchy allows an amplifying chain reaction or cascade for degrading cellular components, during controlled cell death. == Some roles of caspases ==

Apoptosis Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death where the cell undergoes morphological changes, to minimize its effect on surrounding cells to avoid inducing an immune response. The cell shrinks and condenses - the cytoskeleton will collapse, and the nuclear envelope disassembles the DNA fragments up. This results in the cell forming self-enclosed bodies called 'blebs', to avoid release of cellular components into the extracellular medium. Additionally, the cell membrane phospholipid content is altered, which makes the dying cell more susceptible to phagocytic attack and removal. Apoptotic caspases are subcategorised as: • Initiator Caspases (Caspase 2, Caspase 8, Caspase 9, Caspase 10) • Executioner Caspases (Caspase 3, Caspase 6 and Caspase 7) Once initiator caspases are activated, they produce a chain reaction, activating several other executioner caspases. Executioner caspases degrade over 600 cellular components in order to induce the morphological changes for apoptosis. Examples of caspase cascade during apoptosis: • Intrinsic apoptotic pathway: During times of cellular stress, mitochondrial cytochrome c is released into the cytosol. This molecule binds an adaptor protein (APAF-1), which recruits initiator Caspase-9 (via CARD-CARD interactions). This leads to the formation of a Caspase activating multiprotein complex called the Apoptosome. Once activated, initiator caspases such as Caspase 9 will cleave and activate other executioner caspases. This leads to degradation of cellular components for apoptosis. • Extrinsic apoptotic pathway: The caspase cascade is also activated by extracellular ligands, via cell surface Death Receptors. This is done by the formation of a multiprotein Death Inducing Signalling Complex (DISC) that recruits and activates a pro-caspase. For example, the Fas Ligand binds the FasR receptor at the receptor's extracellular surface; this activates the death domains at the cytoplasmic tail of the receptor. The adaptor protein FADD will recruit (by a Death domain-Death domain interaction) pro-Caspase 8 via the DED domain. This FasR, FADD and pro-Caspase 8 form the Death Inducing Signalling Complex (DISC) where Caspase-8 is activated. This could lead to either downstream activation of the intrinsic pathway by inducing mitochondrial stress, or direct activation of Executioner Caspases (Caspase 3, Caspase 6 and Caspase 7) to degrade cellular components as shown in the adjacent diagram. Pyroptosis Pyroptosis is a form of programmed cell death that inherently induces an immune response. It is morphologically distinct from other types of cell death – cells swell up, rupture and release pro-inflammatory cellular contents. This is done in response to a range of stimuli including microbial infections as well as heart attacks (myocardial infarctions). Caspase-1, Caspase-4 and Caspase-5 in humans, and Caspase-1 and Caspase-11 in mice play important roles in inducing cell death by pyroptosis. This limits the life and proliferation time of intracellular and extracellular pathogens. Pyroptosis by caspase-1 Caspase-1 activation is mediated by a repertoire of proteins, allowing detection of a range of pathogenic ligands. Some mediators of Caspase-1 activation are: NOD-like Leucine Rich Repeats (NLRs), AIM2-Like Receptors (ALRs), Pyrin and IFI16. Role in inflammation Inflammation is a protective attempt by an organism to restore a homeostatic state, following disruption from harmful stimulus, such as tissue damage or bacterial infection. • Caspase-4 and -5 in humans, and Caspase-11 in mice have a unique role as a receptor, whereby it binds to LPS, a molecule abundant in gram negative bacteria. This can lead to the processing and secretion of IL-1β and IL-18 cytokines by activating Caspase-1; this downstream effect is the same as described above. It also leads to the secretion of another inflammatory cytokine that is not processed. This is called pro-IL1α. There is also evidence of an inflammatory caspase, caspase-11 aiding cytokine secretion; this is done by inactivating a membrane channel that blocks IL-1β secretion • Caspases can also induce an inflammatory response on a transcriptional level. There is evidence where it promotes transcription of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB), a transcription factor that assists in transcribing inflammatory cytokines such as IFNs, TNF, IL-6 and IL-8. For example, Caspase-1 activates Caspase-7, which in turn cleaves the poly (ADP) ribose – this activates transcription of NF-κB controlled genes. == Discovery of caspases ==

H. Robert Horvitz initially established the importance of caspases in apoptosis and found that the ced-3 gene is required for the cell death that took place during the development of the nematode C. elegans. Horvitz and his colleague Junying Yuan found in 1993 that the protein encoded by the ced-3 gene is cysteine protease with similar properties to the mammalian interleukin-1-beta converting enzyme (ICE) (now known as caspase 1). At the time, ICE was the only known caspase. Other mammalian caspases were subsequently identified, in addition to caspases in organisms such as fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Researchers decided upon the nomenclature of the caspase in 1996. In many instances, a particular caspase had been identified simultaneously by more than one laboratory; each would then give the protein a different name. For example, caspase 3 was variously known as CPP32, apopain and Yama. Caspases, therefore, were numbered in the order in which they were identified. ICE was, therefore, renamed as caspase 1. ICE was the first mammalian caspase to be characterised because of its similarity to the nematode death gene ced-3, but it appears that the principal role of this enzyme is to mediate inflammation rather than cell death. == Evolution ==

In animals apoptosis is induced by caspases and in fungi and plants, apoptosis is induced by arginine and lysine-specific caspase-like proteases called metacaspases. Homology searches revealed a close homology between caspases and the caspase-like proteins of Reticulomyxa (a unicellular organism). The phylogenetic study indicates that divergence of caspase and metacaspase sequences occurred before the divergence of eukaryotes. == Detection ==

Detection of executioner caspase activity frequently utilizes the tetrapeptide DEVD, which corresponds to the preferred cleavage motif for caspase‑3 and caspase‑7. DEVD is a short peptide sequence made up of four amino acids: D – Aspartic acid (Asp); E – Glutamic acid (Glu); V – Valine (Val); D – Aspartic acid (Asp). In fluorometric assays, substrates such as DEVD‑AMC or DEVD‑AFC release a fluorescent moiety upon caspase-mediated cleavage; the fluorescence intensity serves as a direct readout of enzymatic activity. Chromogenic alternatives like DEVD‑pNA allow similar spectrophotometric measurement. More sophisticated approaches employ genetically encoded biosensors containing a DEVD linker, which restore fluorescence only after cleavage by active caspases, enabling real-time, live-cell monitoring of apoptosis. A dual-fluorescent reporter system combining a DEVD-containing ZipGFP biosensor with constitutive mCherry expression has been developed. This platform permits dynamic tracking of caspase‑3/‑7 activation and apoptosis in both 2D and 3D culture systems, including spheroids and organoids, and can be integrated with calreticulin exposure assays to differentiate immunogenic forms of cell death. ==See also==