Caspases, apoptosis and aging.

Jian-Hua Zhang; Yingpei Zhang; Brian Herman

doi:10.1016/s1568-1637(03)00026-6

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Caspases, apoptosis and aging.

Jian-Hua Zhang·Yingpei Zhang·Brian Herman

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Abstract

Caspases are a group of cysteine dependent aspartate-specific proteases. Originally found as the homolog of Ced-3 in C. elegans, 14 caspases have now been identified in mammals to date. Caspases play important roles in both the intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic pathways and interact with the non-caspase apoptotic pathways. A number of recent published observations have suggested a strong association between apoptosis, age-related diseases and aging. Findings from our group and others reveal a strong correlation between alterations in caspase activity and aging. In this view point, we summarize current knowledge of the connection between caspases and aging observed in a variety of model systems from cultured cells in vitro to the in vivo models of rodents and humans.

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Aging Animals Apoptosis Caspases Enzyme Activation Humans Mice Signal Transduction Journal Article Review

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Jian-Hua Zhang, Yingpei Zhang, Brian Herman. 2003. Caspases, apoptosis and aging.. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1568-1637(03)00026-6

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