Members of the caspase family of proteases play essential roles in the initiation and execution of apoptosis. These caspases are divided into two groups: the initiator caspases (caspase-2, -8, -9 and -10), which are the first to be activated in response to a signal, and the executioner caspases (caspase-3, -6, and -7) that carry out the demolition phase of apoptosis. Many conventional cancer therapies induce apoptosis to remove the cancer cell by engaging these caspases indirectly. Newer therapeutic applications have been designed, including those that specifically activate individual caspases using gene therapy approaches and small molecules that repress natural inhibitors of caspases already present in the cell. For such approaches to have maximal clinical efficacy, emerging insights into non-apoptotic roles of these caspases need to be considered. This review will discuss the roles of caspases as safeguards against cancer in the context of the advantages and potential limitations of targeting apoptotic caspases for the treatment of cancer.

中文翻译：

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靶向癌症中的凋亡半胱天冬酶。

蛋白酶 caspase 家族的成员在细胞凋亡的启动和执行中起重要作用。这些 caspase 分为两组：发起者 caspase（caspase-2、-8、-9 和 -10），它们是第一个响应信号而被激活的 caspase，以及执行者 caspase（caspase-3、-6 , 和 -7) 进行细胞凋亡的破坏阶段。许多传统的癌症疗法通过间接参与这些半胱天冬酶来诱导细胞凋亡以去除癌细胞。已经设计了更新的治疗应用，包括使用基因治疗方法和小分子特异性激活单个半胱天冬酶的应用，这些小分子抑制细胞中已经存在的半胱天冬酶的天然抑制剂。对于这种具有最大临床疗效的方法，需要考虑对这些半胱天冬酶的非凋亡作用的新见解。本综述将在靶向凋亡半胱天冬酶治疗癌症的优势和潜在局限性的背景下讨论半胱天冬酶作为抗癌保护措施的作用。