Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research (ZBMZ), Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Stefan Meier Str. 17, 79104, Freiburg, Germany.
Cell Mol Life Sci. 2010 May;67(10):1607-18. doi: 10.1007/s00018-010-0287-9. Epub 2010 Feb 19.
Caspases are the most important effectors of apoptosis, the major form of programmed cell death (PCD) in multicellular organisms. This is best reflected by the appearance of serious development defects in mice deficient for caspase-8, -9, and -3. Meanwhile, caspase-independent PCD, mediated by other proteases or signaling components has been described in numerous publications. Although we do not doubt that such cell death exists, we propose that it has evolved later during evolution and is most likely not designed to execute, but to amplify and speed-up caspase-dependent cell death. This review shall provide evidence for such a concept.
半胱天冬酶是细胞凋亡（多细胞生物中主要的程序性细胞死亡形式）最重要的效应因子。这一点在缺乏半胱天冬酶-8、-9 和 -3 的小鼠中严重的发育缺陷中得到了最好的体现。与此同时，许多出版物中还描述了由其他蛋白酶或信号成分介导的不依赖半胱天冬酶的细胞死亡。虽然我们不怀疑这种细胞死亡的存在，但我们认为它是在进化过程中较晚出现的，很可能不是为了执行，而是为了放大和加速依赖半胱天冬酶的细胞死亡。本综述将为这一概念提供证据。
