TRAIL

By Jamshed Arslan, Pharm. D., PhD.

By Christina Towers, PhD.

By Christina Towers, PhD

Caspases are essential mediators of programmed cell death and are needed for both the induction of apoptosis as well as for aiding the degradation of cellular structures. Initiator caspases (such as Caspase-9) sense and respond to various signals including intracellular stress or binding of the death receptor to external ligands. Upon dimerization, initiator caspases gets activated, which follows cleavage of downstream effector caspases for carrying out the apoptotic program.

The inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) are important regulators of cell death and inflammation. The cellular inhibitor of apoptosis protein 2 (cIAP2) contains three Baculovirus IAP repeat (BIR) domains, a Ubiquitin associated (UBA) domain, and a RING domain with E3 ligase activity. cIAP2 inhibits apoptosis through direct inhibition of the pro-apoptotic caspase-3. cIAP2 also regulates cell survival through its role in the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) signaling pathway.

Fas is a member of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-receptor superfamily and plays a key role in the physiological regulation of programmed cell death. This receptor contains a death domain which enables the formation of a signaling complex that includes Fas-associated death domain protein (FADD), caspase 8, and caspase 10. The auto-proteolytic processing of these complexed caspases triggers a downstream cascade that leads to membrane-mediated apoptosis.

Cell death via apoptosis is a key cellular function triggered by the cell death receptor family and their ligands which signal through downstream adaptor molecules and the caspase protease family. Among the subclass of initiator caspases that include subtypes -2, -8 and -9, caspase 9 is expressed in a variety of human tissues.

Get into the Winter Protein Games 2014! Check out the contenders competing including SKI, POLE, ICEBURG, SKT, TRAIL, WIN and BOB1. Learn more about each protein's function, gene name, molecular weight and family.

View all the fun and games happening in our Winter Protein Games Infographic below.

Novus Biologicals offers reagents for each target:

1. SKI

2. POLE

Death-receptor apoptosis, or cell death, is essential for cellular growth regulation; its disruption is expressed in a variety of cancers. We at Novus Biologicals are one of the leading antibody suppliersfor apoptosis and cancer research groups, and therefore have a large antibody database targeting death receptor proteins.