Return of the Ice Age: Caspases Safeguard against Inflammatory Cell Death

Abstract

In a recent issue of Cell Chemical Biology, Taabazuing et al. (2017) reveal a bidirectional interplay between pathways leading to apoptosis and pyroptosis, two forms of regulated cell death with opposing inflammatory outcomes. The outcome is sealed by differential cleavage of the key pyroptosis execution substrate gasdermin D such that inflammatory caspases activate it but apoptotic caspases prevent its activation.