Figure 5.

Proposed model of TFC pyroptosis in excessive iodine-promoted HT. Excessive iodine enters TFCs and induces the production of ROS, which activates NF-κB signaling and increases GSDMD-FL. In addition, the NLRP3 inflammasome is activated by NF-κB signaling, leading to GSDMD-FL cleavage into GSDMD-N, which triggers pore formation in the membrane and the release of mature IL-1β from cells, causing a sterile inflammatory response and further contributing to pyroptotic cell death and the subsequent promotion of HT.