Caspase 9(CASP9) Homo sapiens This gene encodes a member of the cysteine-aspartic acidprotease (caspase) family. Sequential activation of caspases plays a central role in theexecution-phase of cell apoptosis. Caspases exist as inactive proenzymes which undergoproteolytic processing at conserved aspartic residues to produce two subunits, large and small, thatdimerize to form the active enzyme. This protein can undergo autoproteolytic processing andactivation by the apoptosome, a protein complex of cytochrome c and the apoptotic peptidaseactivatingfactor 1; this step is thought to be one of the earliest in the caspase activation cascade.This protein is thought to play a central role in apoptosis and to be a tumor suppressor. Alternativesplicing results in multiple transcript variants.

CASP9; MCH6; Caspase-9; CASP-9; Apoptotic protease Mch-6;Apoptotic protease-activating factor 3; APAF-3; ICE-likeapoptotic protease 6; ICE-LAP6