Caspases are a group of cysteine-aspartic proteases that play an important role in apoptosis, inflammation, and cell differentiation. These proteases cleave proteins after aspartic residues and are activated through a cascade of proteolytic cleavages. Abnormalities in caspase activity has been linked to a variety of diseases. Mutations in caspases may lead to tumor growth, since these proteases normally induce cell death in abnormally growing cells. Conversely, over activation of some caspases, such as caspase-3, may cause excessive programmed cell death, which is seen in several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. The critical role that caspases play in the development of different diseases has led to research on using caspases as a therapeutic target.
 
Signosis’ Apoptotic Caspase Multiplex Detection Kit provides a comprehensive solution for measuring key caspases in different sample types including blood, cells, and tissue. In this assay, the substrates for each caspase type have unique fluorogenic dyes with different emission spectra, which allows for multiplex detection of multiple caspase types in one sample well. This kit provides enough reagent to measure caspase-3/7, caspase-8, and caspase-9 in 100 samples.