Interaction Between Mitochondria and Caspases: Apoptotic and Non-Apoptotic Roles

Mitochondria, play an important role in a variety of processes including energy production, apoptosis, autophagy and inflammation. Caspases, are proteases that play an essential role in mediating apoptotic process of programmed cell death. An association between mitochondria and caspases is very well defined during apoptosis. Besides apoptosis, emerging data is strongly suggesting a direct association between mitochondria and caspases in regulation of a variety of non-apoptotic processes such as mitochondrial dynamics, autophagy, mitochondrial membrane permeabilization, immune responses and differentiation. On one hand mitochondria regulate activation and localization of caspases, caspases also regulate mitochondrial function, thus a feedback loop exist between mitochondria and caspases to regulate a variety of processes. In this review, we have focused on interaction between caspases and mitochondria in the regulation of each other for mediating a variety of apoptotic and non-apoptotic functions. Since both mitochondria and caspases play an important role in development of a variety of diseases like cancer, neurodegeneration, immune disorders, accelerated aging; understanding association between the two will pave the way for better understanding and designing the therapeutics modalities for a variety of diseases. This review is a part of special issue on mitochondria: implication in human health and diseases.