Psoriasiform lesions are characterized by hyperproliferation and aberrant differentiation of epidermal keratinocytes, accompanied by inflammation, leading to a disrupted skin barrier with an abnormal stratum corneum. The expression and proteolytic processing of caspase 14, a member of the caspase family which is associated with epithelial cell differentiation, planned cell death, and barrier fo...

Caspases are a family of cysteine proteases involved in the effector arm of physiologic cell death [1]. In 1998, a novel caspase designated ‘‘caspase 14’’ was described in embryonic and adult tissues, especially epidermal keratinocytes [2—4]. Unlike other caspases (such as 3, 6 and 7), caspase 14 is not processed by typical death stimuli or activated during apoptosis induced by ultraviolet irra...

BACKGROUND The green tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) possesses anti-carcinogenic properties and was found to induce terminal differentiation in epidermal keratinocytes. Caspase-14, a member of the caspase family associated with epithelial cell differentiation, planned cell death, and barrier formation, is induced by EGCG in normal human epidermal keratinocytes but not in ca...

Programmed cell death of epidermal keratinocytes (KC) results in the formation of cornified cells, which constitute the outermost skin layer, the stratum corneum. Here we show by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, western blot, and immunohistochemistry that epidermal KC express caspase-14, a member of the caspase family of pro-apoptotic proteases, in a tissue-specific manner. Casp...

objective: this study aimed to evaluate the incidence of apoptosis in vitrified and non-vitrified human ovarian tissue by the use of morphological analysis and apoptosis assay techniques. methods: we obtained human ovarian tissue biopsies from 30 women who underwent elective caesarean sections. tissues were transported to the laboratory in pre-warmed, equilibrated leibovitz l-15 medium within 2...

Recent studies have reported that caspase 7 has an apoptotic and nonapoptotic function. However, the relationship between caspase 7 and spermatogenesis remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the possible function of caspase 7 during normal and abnormal spermatogenesis. The cleaved form of caspase 7 was detected in testis tissues at different postpartum times (5-14 weeks) by qRT-PCR, W...

An earlier report showed that the U(S)3 protein kinase blocked the apoptosis induced by the herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) d120 mutant at a premitochondrial stage. Further studies revealed that the kinase also blocks programmed cell death induced by the proapoptotic protein BAD. Here we report the effects of the U(S)3 protein kinase on the function and state of a murine BAD protein. Specificall...