CASP3 (caspase 3) encodes a protein which is a member of the cysteine-aspartic acid protease(caspase) family. Sequential activation of caspases plays a central role in the execution-phase ofcell apoptosis. Caspases exist as inactive proenzymes which undergo proteolytic processing atconserved aspartic residues to produce two subunits, large and small, that dimerize to form theactive enzyme. This protein cleaves and activates caspases 6, 7 and 9, and the protein itself isprocessed by caspases 8, 9 and 10. It is the predominant caspase involved in the cleavage ofamyloid-beta 4A precursor protein, which is associated with neuronaldeath in Alzheimer's disease.Alternative splicing of CASP3 results in two transcript variants that encode the same protein.