Caspases and immunity in a deadly grip.
Caspases are crucial for the execution of apoptotic cell death. However, caspase-1, the first identified mammalian caspase, was not discovered in the context of apoptosis, but rather as an enzyme that processes the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1β. More recently, additional nonapoptotic roles of apoptotic caspases have been uncovered. For example, caspase-8 can counteract necroptosis, an inflammatory mode of cell death induced by receptor-interacting protein (RIP)3. Here, we explore how caspases and their associated proteins and substrates mediate multiple cellular immune processes that extend beyond cell death. We focus on caspases-1, -8 and -11 because of the growing excitement in considering these caspases through the lens of regulators of immunity rather than primarily as arbiters of cell fate.
Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada.
Ian G
IG
Rodrigue-Gervais
Maya
M
Saleh
D000818:Animals; D020169:Caspases / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000276:immunology*; D007249:Inflammation / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice
D020169:Caspases