CASP2 is a protein which 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. Caspases exist as inactive proenzymes which undergo proteolytic processing at conserved aspartic residues to produce two subunits, large and small, that dimerize to form the active enzyme. The proteolytic cleavage of this protein is induced by a variety of apoptotic stimuli. Alternative splicing of this gene results in multiple transcript variants that encode different isoforms. Recombinant human CASP2 protein, fused to His-tag at N-terminus, was expressed in E.coli .