Fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) is a clinical syndrome resulting from massive death of liver
cells or sudden and severe impairment of liver function. The causes of FHF are diverse and
the overall mortality is very high. Recently, it became clear that apoptosis of hepatocytes is
the critical cause of acute hepatic failure in FHF. It is well known that a family of cysteine
proteases called caspase is one of the key mediators of the apoptotic pathway. Thus,
caspases are attractive potential targets for the treatment of disorders resulting from …