背景
The protein encoded by this gene is a cysteine-aspartic acid protease that plays a centralrole in the execution-phase of cell apoptosis. The encoded protein cleaves and inactivatespoly(ADP-ribose) polymerase while it cleaves and activates sterol regulatory element bindingproteins as well as caspases 6, 7, and 9. This protein itself is processed by caspases 8, 9,and 10. It is the predominant caspase involved in the cleavage of amyloid-beta 4A precursorprotein, which is associated with neuronal death in Alzheimer's disease.
