Caspase-2 (C2) Mouse mAb #2224

Caspase-2 (Nedd2/ICH-1) is a Class I caspase with a long prodomain necessary for nuclear localization. Upon activation of the apoptotic pathway, the procaspase is cleaved at Asp316, producing a 14 kDa fragment and a 32 kDa prodomain/large subunit. Subsequent processing at Asp152 and Asp330 produces an 18 kDa large subunit and a 12 kDa small fragment (1). Caspase-2 is the nuclear apoptotic respondent to cellular genotoxic stress or mitotic catastrophe. Activation occurs upon recruitment to a complex containing a p53-induced death domain protein, PIDD (2). This suggests caspase-2 can be a nuclear initiator caspase with a requirement for caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation in downstream apoptotic events (3, 4). In apoptotic pathways resulting from UV-induced DNA damage, processing of caspase-2 occurs downstream of mitochondrial dysfunction and of caspase-9 and caspase-3 activation, extending a possible role for caspase-2 as a parallel effector caspase (5).