Apoptosis is related to many diseases and development. Cell death signals are transduced by death domain (DD), death effector domain (DED), and caspase recruitment domain (CARD) containing molecules. CARD containing proteins include some caspases, Apaf-1, CARD4, IAPs, RICK, ARC, RAIDD, BCL-10, and ASC. A novel CARD-containing protein was recently identified and designated CARD8. This protein interacts with DRAL, a p53-responsive protein implicated in the induction of apoptosis, and caspase-1 and its related proteins ICEBERG and pesudo-ICE. Although there are conflicting reports on whether CARD8 acts a pro- or anti-apoptotic protein, it has been suggested that it functions as an adaptor molecule regulating caspase-1 and NF-κB activation.
