Aside from their important role in apoptosis, caspases also play an important role in inflammatory processes. Humans express four inflammatory caspases: Caspase-1, -4, -5, and -12. Caspase-12 is a 48 kDa protein localized to the ER and involved in the ER stress response. Caspase-12 contains a caspase-associated recruitment domain (CARD) and two catalytic domains, p20 and p10 (1).
