Caspase-3 (CASP3) belongs to the class of cysteine proteases. CASP3?is an executioner caspase, which is cleaved and activated with the help of caspase-8 and caspase-9 initiator caspases. CASP3?is mapped to human chromosome 4q35.1.
Caspase 3 is one of the key effectors of apoptosis. It acts downstream of caspase 9 in the apoptotic pathway. During apoptosis, it gets activated by proteolytic cleavage into the 17-19 kDa (p17, p18) and 12 kDa (p12) active subunits. Any alteraion in CASP-3 in mice, causes premature lethality. It has also shown that the deletion of gene affects brain development resulting of hyperplasias and disorganized cell deployement. Clinically it is related to Huntington disease (HD). Caspase 3 brings about cell death by activating CAD (caspase activated DNAse I), an endonuclease that causes degradation of chromosomal DNA.