Question

Caspases are involved in:

• A. Cell division
• B. Necrosis
• C. Apoptosis
• D. Inflammation

Hint:

Caspases are the executioner proteases of programmed cell death.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: What are caspases?
Caspases are cysteine proteases that cleave their substrates after aspartate residues. The name itself comes from cysteine-aspartate-specific proteases.

Step 2: Their main role.
Caspases are the central executioners of apoptosis, which is programmed cell death. Initiator caspases (like caspase-8 and caspase-9) activate executioner caspases (like caspase-3 and caspase-7), which then dismantle the cell in an orderly way, producing apoptotic bodies without spilling cell contents.

Step 3: Rule out the others.
Cell division is driven by cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases, not caspases.
Necrosis is unregulated, accidental cell death caused by injury and is not driven by caspases.
Inflammation is mediated by cytokines and inflammatory cells; although some caspases (caspase-1) process inflammatory cytokines, the defining and classic role asked here is programmed cell death.

Step 4: Conclusion.
Caspases are the executioners of apoptosis, option C.