Caspase-3

Caspases are a family of cytosolic aspartate-specific cysteine proteases involved in the initiation and execution of apoptosis. They are expressed as latent zymogens and are activated by an autoproteolytic mechanism or by processing by other proteases (frequently other caspases). Human caspases can be subdivided into three functional groups: cytokine activation (caspase-1, -4, -5, and -13), apoptosis initiation (caspase-2, -8, -9, -and -10), and apoptosis execution (caspase-3, -6, and -7).

Image: Caspase-3 staining of paraffin-embedded tissue sections of mouse thymus. Tissues were stained  using ABC-HRP, AEC (red) substrate and Haematoxylin (blue) counterstain.