This gene is part of a family of caspases, aspartate-specific cysteine proteases well studied for their involvement in immune and apoptosis signaling. This protein, an initiator of apoptotic cell death, is activated by death-inducing tumor necrosis family receptors and targets downstream effectors. In mouse deficiency of this gene can cause embryonic lethality. This protein may have a role in embryogenesis. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants that encode different protein isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Apr 2013]