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Evaluation of Caspase Activation to Assess Innate Immune Cell Death
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Caspase crosstalk: integration of apoptotic and innate immune signalling pathways

Emma M Creagh1

  • 1School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.

Trends in Immunology
|December 3, 2014
PubMed

Insights

Caspases, initially divided into apoptosis and innate immunity roles, now show overlapping functions. This review proposes caspases integrate cell death and immune signaling for development, infection, and homeostasis.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Immunology
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • Caspases, a family of cysteine proteases, were traditionally categorized into apoptosis-related and innate immune signaling roles.
  • Recent discoveries challenge this strict division, with apoptotic caspases found in inflammasomes and inflammatory caspases inducing cell death.

Approach:

  • Review of current evidence on caspase functions.
  • Analysis of nonclassical roles attributed to various caspases.
  • Proposal of an integrated signaling system model.

Key Points:

  • 'Apoptotic' caspases are found in inflammasomes.
  • 'Inflammatory' caspases can induce cell death.
  • Evidence suggests broader, nonclassical functions for many caspases.

Conclusions:

  • The functional division of caspases into distinct apoptotic and inflammatory groups is overly simplistic.
  • Caspases act as crucial integrators of cell death and innate immune signaling pathways.
  • This integrated system is vital for regulating cellular responses during development, infection, and maintaining homeostasis.
Keywords:
apoptosiscaspaseinflammatory pathwaysinnate immune signalling

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