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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
Exploring Caspase Mutations and Post-Translational Modification by Molecular Modeling Approaches
Published on: October 13, 2022
Population distribution of the functional caspase-12 allele
Kritika Kachapati1, Thomas R O'Brien, Julie Bergeron
1Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Abstract:
Members of the caspase family can be important for apoptosis or inflammation, but the role of caspase-12 (CASP12 or CSP12) is unclear. Although most humans lack a functional caspase-12, the Csp 12-L variant, previously found only among people of African descent, produces a full-length proenzyme and increases the risk of sepsis. In this study, Csp 12-L allele frequency ranged from 3.6% to 60.7% among populations from sub-Saharan Africa and was also present at low frequency among North African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian populations.
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