Rehabilitation of a contract killer: caspase-3 directs stem cell differentiation

Cell Stem Cell. 2008 Jun 5;2(6):515-6. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2008.05.013.

Abstract

Activation of caspase-3 is generally acknowledged as a penultimate step in apoptotic cell death pathways. Two studies in this issue of Cell Stem Cell (Fujita et al., 2008; Janzen et al., 2008) provide compelling data to demonstrate that caspase-3 is also a conserved inductive cue for stem cell differentiation.

Publication types

  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Apoptosis
  • Caspase 3 / genetics
  • Caspase 3 / metabolism*
  • Cell Differentiation*
  • Embryonic Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Embryonic Stem Cells / enzymology*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cells / enzymology*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Knockout
  • Signal Transduction / genetics

Substances

  • Caspase 3