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Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Lighting Up the Pathways to Caspase Activation Using Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation
Published on: March 5, 2018
Caspase activation: revisiting the induced proximity model
1Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA. yshi@molbio.princeton.edu
Abstract:
Caspases execute cell death. The mechanism of effector caspase activation primarily involves reorganization of active site loops following the activation cleavage. The Induced Proximity hypothesis, originally proposed to explain the activation of initiator caspases, has recently been reinterpreted to be proximity-driven dimerization of initiator caspases, and consequently their activation. The evidence supporting these models is critically evaluated and other possible mechanisms for initiator caspase activation are discussed.
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