Yersiniabactin-Producing Induces the Pyroptosis of Intestinal Epithelial Cells Via the NLRP3 Pathway and Promotes Gut Inflammation

The high-pathogenicity island (HPI) was initially identified in Yersinia and can be horizontally transferred to to produce yersiniabactin (Ybt), which enhances the pathogenicity of by competing with the host for Fe. Pyroptosis is gasdermin-induced necrotic cell death. It involves the permeabilization of the cell membrane and is accompanied by an inflammatory response. It is still unclear whether Ybt HPI can cause intestinal epithelial cells to undergo pyroptosis and contribute to gut inflammation during infection. In this study, we infected intestinal epithelial cells of mice with ZB-1 and the Ybt-deficient strain ZB-1Δ. Our findings demonstrate that Ybt-producing is more toxic and exacerbates gut inflammation during systemic infection. Mechanistically, our results suggest the involvement of the NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD pathway in infection. Ybt promotes the assembly and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, leading to GSDMD cleavage into GSDMD-N and promoting the pyroptosis of intestinal epithelial cells, ultimately aggravating gut inflammation. Notably, NLRP3 knockdown alleviated these phenomena, and the binding of free Ybt to NLRP3 may be the trigger. Overall, our results show that Ybt HPI enhances the pathogenicity of and induces pyroptosis via the NLRP3 pathway, which is a new mechanism through which promotes gut inflammation. Furthermore, we screened drugs targeting NLRP3 from an existing drug library, providing a list of potential drug candidates for the treatment of gut injury caused by .