Suppression of transformed phenotypes of Ha-ras-transformed NIH3T3 cells by caspase-2.

Biological effects of caspases-1, -2 and -3 have been investigated by transfection of these human cDNAs into activated c-Ha-ras-transformed NIH3T3 mouse fibroblasts. High expression of caspase-2 but not caspase-1 or -3 induced flat revertant cells which lost the ability of anchorage-independent growth. Notably, these revertants contained a reduced amount of Ras protein. These suggest that caspase-2 exhibited a tumor-suppressive activity by affecting the expression level of Ras protein.