title: Caspase-9 as a therapeutic target for treating cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Caspase-9 is the apoptotic initiator protease of the intrinsic or mitochondrial apoptotic pathway, which is activated at multi-protein activation platforms. Its activation is believed to involve homo-dimerization of the monomeric zymogens. It binds to the apoptosome to retain substantial catalytic activity. Variety of apoptotic stimuli can regulate caspase-9. However, the mechanism of action of various regulators of caspase-9 has not been summarized and compared yet. In this article, we elucidate the regulators of caspase-9 including microRNAs, natural compounds that are related to caspase-9 and ongoing clinical trials with caspase-9 to better understand the caspase-9 in suppressing cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, the basic mechanism of apoptosis pathways, regulators of caspase-9 and the development of drugs to regulate caspase-9 are reviewed. Also, ongoing clinical trials for caspase-9 are discussed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Apoptosis has crucial role in cancer, brain disease, aging and heart disease to name a few. Since caspase-9 is an initiator caspase of apoptosis, it is an important therapeutic target of various diseases related to apoptosis. Therefore, a deep understanding on the roles as well as regulators of caspase-9 is required to find more effective ways to conquer apoptosis-related diseases especially cancer.
authors.affiliation: Kyunghee University, College of Korean Medicine, Cancer Preventive Material Development Research Center , 1 Hoegi-dong, Dongdaemun-ku, Seoul 131-701 , South Korea.
authors.forename: Bonglee
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sanjay K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Srivastava
authors.forename: Sung-Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D001688:Biological Products / Q000494:pharmacology; D053453:Caspase 9 / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001688:Biological Products; D053453:Caspase 9
keywords: apoptosis; apoptosis-activating factor-1; apoptosome; cancer; caspase-3; caspase-9