CASP8, Official Symbol CASP8provided by HGNC Official Full Name caspase 8provided by HGNC Primary source HGNC:HGNC:1509 See related Ensembl:ENSG00000064012 MIM:601763; AllianceGenome:HGNC:1509 Gene type protein coding RefSeq status REVIEWED Organism Homo sapiens Lineage Eukaryota; Metazoa; Chordata; Craniata; Vertebrata; Euteleostomi; Mammalia; Eutheria; Euarchontoglires; Primates; Haplorrhini; Catarrhini; Hominidae; Homo Also known as CAP4; MACH; MCH5; FLICE; ALPS2B; Casp-8 Summary This gene encodes a member of the cysteine-aspartic acid protease (caspase) family. Sequential activation of caspases plays a central role in the execution-phase of cell apoptosis. Caspases exist as inactive proenzymes composed of a prodomain, a large protease subunit, and a small protease subunit. Activation of caspases requires proteolytic processing at conserved internal aspartic residues to generate a heterodimeric enzyme consisting of the large and small subunits. This protein is involved in the programmed cell death induced by Fas and various apoptotic stimuli. The N-terminal FADD-like death effector domain of this protein suggests that it may interact with Fas-interacting protein FADD. This protein was detected in the insoluble fraction of the affected brain region from Huntington disease patients but not in those from normal controls, which implicated the role in neurodegenerative diseases. Many alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been described, although not all variants have had their full-length sequences determined. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008] Expression Broad expression in bone marrow (RPKM 26.3), lymph node (RPKM 15.2) and 21 other tissues See more Orthologs mouse all