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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Lighting Up the Pathways to Caspase Activation Using Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation
08:47

Lighting Up the Pathways to Caspase Activation Using Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation

Published on: March 5, 2018

Caspases and cancer

M Olsson1, B Zhivotovsky

  • 1Division of Toxicology, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

Cell Death and Differentiation
|April 2, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Cancer cells evade apoptosis, a key cell death process regulated by caspases. This review explores if caspase deregulation, not just insufficient activation, drives tumor growth by promoting cell survival.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Cancer Biology
  • Cell Death Pathways

Background:

  • Evasion of apoptosis is a hallmark of human cancers.
  • Apoptosis is executed by caspases, with upstream regulators acting as tumor suppressors or oncogenes.
  • Regulatory factors involved in apoptosis also play roles in cell survival and repair pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if deregulation of specific caspases, rather than insufficient caspase activation, contributes to tumor formation.
  • To examine the evidence linking caspase malfunction to enhanced tumorigenic potential through inappropriate cell survival.

Main Methods:

  • Review of basic molecular mechanisms from in vitro analyses.
  • Emphasis on new insights from in vivo and clinical studies.

Main Results:

  • Caspases possess tumor suppressor functions.
  • Redundancy in caspase regulatory functions and substrate recognition exists.
  • Deregulation of specific caspases may lead to enhanced tumorigenic potential.

Conclusions:

  • While caspases are crucial for apoptosis, their specific deregulation, not solely insufficient activation, is implicated in cancer progression.
  • Further research integrating in vitro, in vivo, and clinical data is needed to fully understand the role of caspase deregulation in tumorigenesis.

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