Abstract
Pyroptosis is a gasdermins mediated programmed cell death, which has been widely studied in inflammatory disease models. Recently, there are growing evidences that pyroptosis can be chemically induced in cancer cells without any bacterial or viral infection. Pyroptosis may affect all stages of carcinogenesis and has become a new topic in cancer research. In this review, we first briefly introduced pyroptosis. In the subsequent section, we discussed the induction of pyroptosis in cancer and its potential role as a promising target for cancer therapy. In addition, the biological characteristics of gasdermin D (GSDMD) and gasdermin E (GSDME), two important pyroptosis substrates, and their prognostic role in cancer management were reviewed. These results help us to understand the pathogenesis of cancer and develop new drugs, which based on pyroptosis modulation, for cancer patients.
Highlights
Inflammation is one of the hallmarks of cancer [1]
Pyroptosis has become a new topic in cancer research because it may affect all stages of carcinogenesis
The results revealed that eukaryotic elongation factor-2 kinase (eEF-2K) played an important role in pyroptosis of human melanoma cells induced by doxorubicin
Summary
Inflammation is one of the hallmarks of cancer [1]. Inflammasomes are the most critical components of the response to cancer promoting inflammation [2,3,4]. The N-terminal fragment of GSDME activated by caspase-3 is similar to N-terminal domain of GSDMD, resulting in cell membrane pore formation and pyroptosis [41, 54]. Wang et al [58] showed that metformin could induce the GSDMD-mediated pyroptosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in in vitro and in vivo studies.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
