Review Article

Pyroptosis and pyroptosis-inducing cancer drugs

Fan Yang1, Sahana N. Bettadapura2, Mark S. Smeltzer3, Hua Zhu4, Shanzhi Wang5
1 Healthville LLC, Little Rock, AR 72204, USA
2 Biology Department, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR 72204, USA
3 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR 72205, USA
4 Department of Surgery, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
5 Chemistry Department, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR 72204, USA
Correspondence to: Hua Zhu: hua.zhu@osumc.edu, Shanzhi Wang: sxwang2@ualr.edu,
DOI: 10.1038/s41401-022-00887-6
Received: 14 October 2021
Accepted: 7 February 2022
Advance online: 14 March 2022

Abstract

Pyroptosis, an inflammatory form of lytic cell death, is a type of cell death mediated by the gasdermin (GSDM) protein family. Upon recognizing exogenous or endogenous signals, cells undergo inflammasome assembly, GSDM cleavage, the release of proinflammatory cytokines and other cellular contents, eventually leading to inflammatory cell death. In this review, we discuss the roles of the GSDM family for anti-cancer functions and various antitumor drugs that could activate the pyroptosis pathways.
Keywords: pyroptosis; inflammasome; caspase; GSDMD; GSDME; apoptosis

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