Gasdermins: Effectors of Pyroptosis

Publication date: Available online 12 June 2017
Source:Trends in Cell Biology
Author(s): Stephen B. Kovacs, Edward A. Miao
Pyroptosis is a form of lytic programmed cell death initiated by inflammasomes, which detect cytosolic contamination or perturbation. This drives activation of caspase-1 or caspase-11/4/5, which cleave gasdermin D, separating its N-terminal pore-forming domain (PFD) from the C-terminal repressor domain (RD). The PFD oligomerizes to form large pores in the membrane that drive swelling and membrane rupture. Gasdermin D is one of six (in humans) gasdermin family members; several other gasdermins have also been shown to form pores that cause pyroptosis after cleavage to activate their PFDs. One of these, gasdermin E, is activated by caspase-3 cleavage. We review our current understanding of pyroptosis as well as current knowledge of the gasdermin family.



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