| Description |
Apoptosis is related to many diseases and induced by a family of cell death receptors and their ligands. Cell death is finally caused by members of the caspase family of proteases and caspase activated DNases. A novel member in the caspase family was recently identified and designated ERICE (for Evolutionarily Related Interleukin-1 beta Converting Enzyme) and caspase-13. Caspase-13 belongs to the ICE subfamily of caspases. Overexpression of caspase-13 induces apoptosis. Caspase-13 was activated by caspase-8, which is a key enzyme in death receptor induced apoptosis. Caspase-13 is expressed in a variety of human tissues and cell lines.
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