Caspases playing in the field of neuroinflammation: old and new players

Neuroinflammation is a complex immune response against the harmful effects of diverse stimuli within the central nervous system. Caspases are a family of intracellular cysteine proteases that mediate proteolytic events indispensable for transduction of signaling pathway-controlling biological phenomena such as apoptosis and inflammation. To date, 14 players have been identified in mammals. For many years, caspases were simply divided into 'apoptotic' and 'proinflammatory' caspases and this classification remains useful to some extent. However, increasing evidence indicates that many of these so-called apoptotic caspases also exert nonapoptotic functions. In addition, the role of certain members of the supposed inflammatory caspases in the inflammatory process per se has also been discussed. In this review, we highlight the role for 'apoptotic' and 'proinflammatory' caspases in the regulation of the inflammation response with a special focus on the central nervous system.