CASP3 and acute kidney injury: In contrast, as a widely expressed protease and key executioner of apoptosis, Caspase-3 is activated by diverse extrinsic and intrinsic death signals, serving as a common pathogenic mediator across different AKI etiologies and thereby fulfilling the criterion of a broad-spectrum target (Yang et al., 2014; Yang et al., 2011; Yang et al., 2018; Liu et al., 2025).