Caspase 4 (CASP4), is a member of the cysteine-aspartic acid protease (caspase) family. Sequential activation of caspases plays a central role in the execution-phase of cell apoptosis.Caspase 4 is able to cleave and activate its own precursor protein, as well as caspase 1 precursor.Caspases exist as inactive proenzymes composed of a prodomain and a large and small protease subunit. Activation of caspases requires proteolytic processing at conserved internal aspartic residues to generate a heterodimeric enzyme consisting of the large and small subunits.
