Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have identified a specific enzyme inside immune cells that keeps Toxoplasma gondii, one of the most common brain parasites on the planet, ...

A new study identifies an extreme but effective way that brain immune cells can prevent the parasite Toxoplasma gondii from spreading: they kill themselves to eliminate the dangerous microbes they ...

A parasite that may already be hiding in your brain has a shocking survival trick: it can infect the very immune cells sent ...

Researchers have discovered using mice and human clinical specimens that caspase-2, a protein-cleaving enzyme, is a critical driver of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a chronic and aggressive ...

Caspase-2, an initiator caspase, plays a critical role in programmed cell death in response to certain cellular stresses. Its activation is facilitated by the PIDDosome, a multi-protein complex that ...

Brain parasite study reveals crucial immune “emergency switch”.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have identified previously unknown functions of the enigmatic enzyme caspase-6. The findings show that caspase-6 is a key regulator of innate immunity, ...

Scientists use cell death, whether by apoptosis or necrosis, to evaluate the toxicity or effectiveness of substances of interest, including potential therapeutic agents. For example, researchers will ...

Rather than delivering a swift blow to neurons, a death protein found elevated in people with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) may exact its toll in a slower, more insidious way. According to a ...

The enzyme caspase-8 induces a molecular cell death programme called pyroptosis without involving its enzymatic activity, a new study by Hamid Kashkar published in Nature shows. In order to safeguard ...