Polyclonal Antibody to DFF40/CAD (I18)

Deregulation of apoptosis is related to a variety of diseases. Apoptosis can be induced by a family of cell death receptors and their ligands. Death signals are transduced by death domain containing adapter molecules and members of the caspase family of proteases. These death signals finally cause the degradation of chromosomal DNA by activated DNase. A mouse DNase that causes DNA fragmentation was identified recently and designated CAD (for caspase activated deoxyribonuclease) [1,2]. The human homolog of mouse CAD was termed CPAN, DFF40, and human CAD, respectively [3-5]. DFF45(ICAD) is the inhibitory protein of DFF40(CAD) [1,2,6]. Upon cleavage of DFF45(ICAD) by activated caspase, DFF40(CAD) is released from the DFF45(ICAD) complex and activated and eventually causes the degradation of DNA in the nuclei. Activation of DFF40(CAD), causes DNA degradation, which is the hallmark of apoptotic cell death [7].