The ICE family of cysteine proteases as effectors of cell death |
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Authors: | Kumar S Lavin M F |
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Affiliation: | The Hanson Centre for Cancer Research, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science, Frome Road, Adelaide, Australia. |
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Abstract: | Programmed cellular suicide follows a set of distinct morphological events involving profound cytoplasmic and nuclear changes. The recent discovery of a family of mammalian homologues of the Caenorhabditis elegans cell death protein CED-3 is now providing insight into how these events might be brought about. These mammalian proteins encode cysteine proteases with homology to the interleukin-1beta converting enzyme (ICE). CED-3 and seven of its currently known mammalian homologues cleave their substrates after an aspartate residue, a property shared only by the cytotoxic T cell (CTL) protease granzyme B which is necessary for the CTL-mediated killing of target cells. A number of proteins previously known to be cleaved in cells undergoing apoptosis have now been shown to be targeted by ICE-like proteases. Although many questions remain, it is becoming increasingly clear that this unique group of proteases play a central effector role in the process of physiological cell death. This article reviews various aspects of the ICE family of proteases. |
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