This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Frisch, S. M. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Frisch, S. M. Related Collections Cellular Pathobiology Cellular Pathobiology: Proliferation, Senescence, and Death

Caspase-8: Fly or Die

West Virginia University, Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, Morgantown, West Virginia

Requests for reprints: Steven M. Frisch, West Virginia University, Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, 1 Medical Center Drive, Campus Box 9300 Morgantown, WV 26506. Phone: 304-293-2980; E-mail: sfrisch{at}hsc.wvu.edu.

Key Words: caspase-8 • migration

Recent studies have revealed that procaspase-8 has an important function in cell adhesion and motility. Src phosphorylation controls this function by preventing the conversion of procaspase-8, which is an adhesion/migration factor, to mature caspase-8, which is an apoptosis-inducing factor. This provides a mechanism to switch these opposing functions. In its migratory role, procaspase-8 interacts with the phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase regulatory subunit p85 and c-src to modulate signaling by Rac and extracellular signal-regulated kinase, and promote calpain activation. Here, I survey the findings of these studies and discuss potential mechanisms and ramifications for cancer prognosis and therapy. [Cancer Res 2008;68(12):4491–3]