This gene encodes a member of the cysteine-aspartic acid protease (caspase) family. Caspases mediate cellular apoptosis through the proteolytic cleavage of specific protein substrates. The encoded protein may function in stress-induced cell death pathways, cell cycle maintenance, and the suppression of tumorigenesis. Increased expression of this gene may play a role in neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and temporal lobe epilepsy. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding multiple isoforms have been observed for this gene. [provided by RefSeq, Jan 2011]
Forensic Context
A study in human cadaver liver tissues demonstrated that the CASP2 was down-regulated (-2380.4332 fold) in decaying samples compared to a control [Javan et al. DOI:10.1007/S12024-015-9704-6]. In contrast, research on human postmortem prostate tissues found that the CASP2 was progressively elevated as the postmortem interval increased, showing significant up-regulation at longer intervals (96 and 120 hours) [Tolbert et al. DOI:10.1016/j.gene.2018.06.090]. A review of post-mortem interval estimation methods notes that the CASP2 is a protein marker whose immunoreactivity shows a significant increase with increasing PMI [Lopez et al. DOI:10.1016/J.Forsciint.2025.112412].