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: GSDMD; GSDME; apoptosis; caspase; inflammasome; pyroptosis.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Pharmacological Society.