{"symbol":"CASP4","synonyms":["Mih1","TX","ICE(REL)II","ICEREL-II","ICH-2","MIH1/TX"],"name":"caspase 4, apoptosis-related cysteine peptidase","description":"This gene encodes a protein that is 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 and a large and 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 caspase is able to cleave and activate its own precursor protein, as well as caspase 1 precursor. When overexpressed, this gene induces cell apoptosis. Alternative splicing results in transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]","ncbiEntrezGeneId":837,"ncbiEntrezGeneUrl":"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/837","proteins":[{"symbol":"CASP4_HUMAN","href":"/api/1.0/protein/CASP4_HUMAN"}],"hgncRootFamilies":[{"name":"Caspases (CASP)","href":"/api/1.0/gene_family/Caspases+%28CASP%29"}]}