Apoptosis is one of the best-characterized phenomena in cellular and molecular biology. Not only is it essential for successful development, but its deregulation also leads to a number of human diseases, most notably cancer.
Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs) are a ubiquitous group of molecular chaperone proteins that have evolved unique mechanisms, within their host cells, to facilitate survival in hostile environments such as heat, oxidative (hypoxia), pH and cold.
The caspases are a group of cysteine protease enzymes essential to apoptosis, inflammation and necrosis. Caspase 3 has been identified as one of the key mediators of apoptosis.
Caspase 3 is a member of the cysteine-aspartic acid protease family and an important mediator of apoptosis. Caspase 3 antibody reagents have been used in cancer, Alzheimer's disease and stem cell research. A recent caspase 3 antibody ELISA study showed elevated levels of the p17 caspase 3 fragment were associated with myocardial infarction in humans.
