Calpain-2 catalytic subunit is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CAPN2 gene. The calpains, calcium-activated neutral proteases, are nonlysosomal, intracellular cysteine proteases. The mammalian calpains include ubiquitous, stomach-specific, and muscle-specific proteins. The ubiquitous enzymes consist of heterodimers with distinct large, catalytic subunits associated with a common small, regulatory subunit. This gene encodes the large subunit of the ubiquitous enzyme, calpain 2. Multiple heterogeneous transcriptional start sites in the 5' UTR have been reported.