Caspase-11 Cleaves Gasdermin D for Non-canonical Inflammasome Signalling
Authors
Affiliations
Intracellular lipopolysaccharide from Gram-negative bacteria including Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Shigella flexneri, and Burkholderia thailandensis activates mouse caspase-11, causing pyroptotic cell death, interleukin-1β processing, and lethal septic shock. How caspase-11 executes these downstream signalling events is largely unknown. Here we show that gasdermin D is essential for caspase-11-dependent pyroptosis and interleukin-1β maturation. A forward genetic screen with ethyl-N-nitrosourea-mutagenized mice links Gsdmd to the intracellular lipopolysaccharide response. Macrophages from Gsdmd(-/-) mice generated by gene targeting also exhibit defective pyroptosis and interleukin-1β secretion induced by cytoplasmic lipopolysaccharide or Gram-negative bacteria. In addition, Gsdmd(-/-) mice are protected from a lethal dose of lipopolysaccharide. Mechanistically, caspase-11 cleaves gasdermin D, and the resulting amino-terminal fragment promotes both pyroptosis and NLRP3-dependent activation of caspase-1 in a cell-intrinsic manner. Our data identify gasdermin D as a critical target of caspase-11 and a key mediator of the host response against Gram-negative bacteria.
Cell death in tumor microenvironment: an insight for exploiting novel therapeutic approaches.
Wang W, Li T, Wu K Cell Death Discov. 2025; 11(1):93.
PMID: 40064873 PMC: 11894105. DOI: 10.1038/s41420-025-02376-1.
The novel GSDMD inhibitor GI-Y2 exerts antipyroptotic effects to reduce atherosclerosis.
Fan X, Cheng Z, Shao R, Ye K, Chen X, Cai X Clin Transl Med. 2025; 15(3):e70263.
PMID: 40045452 PMC: 11882392. DOI: 10.1002/ctm2.70263.
New insights into the noncanonical inflammasome point to caspase-4 as a druggable target.
Elkayam E, Gervais F, Wu H, A Crackower M, Lieberman J Nat Rev Immunol. 2025; .
PMID: 40044809 DOI: 10.1038/s41577-025-01142-9.
Radmehr E, Yazdanpanah N, Rezaei N J Transl Med. 2025; 23(1):249.
PMID: 40022088 PMC: 11871836. DOI: 10.1186/s12967-025-06269-w.
Development of anti-murine IL-18 binding protein antibodies to stimulate IL-18 bioactivity.
Huard A, Fauteux-Daniel S, Goldstein J, Martin P, Jarlborg M, Andries J J Immunol. 2025; 214(1):180-191.
PMID: 40018678 PMC: 7617445. DOI: 10.1093/jimmun/vkae022.