1 Role of caspases in cytokine-induced barrier breakdown in human brain endothelial cells M. Alejandro Lopez-Ramirez § , Roman Fischer ¶ , Claudia C. Torres-Badillo § , Heather A. Davies § , Karen Logan § , Klaus Pfizenmaier ¶ , David K. Male § , Basil Sharrack # and Ignacio A. Romero §, * § Department of Life, Health & Chemical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK. ¶ Institute of Cell Biology and Immunology, University Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany. # Department of Neurology, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK. Address of the corresponding author: *Ignacio A. Romero Department of Life, Health & Chemical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK. Tel. +44 1908 659467; Fax. +44 1908 654167; email: i.romero@open.ac.uk Running Title: Cytokine-induced caspases and endothelial barrier breakdown Keywords: Blood-brain barrier, cytokines, permeability, caspase, apoptosis This work was funded by the DANA Foundation and by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and by the EC FP6, Project NeuroproMiSe, contract # LSHM-CT-2005-018637.