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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Dec 1.
Published in final edited form as: Arch Toxicol. 2019 Oct 22;93(12):3491–3502. doi: 10.1007/s00204-019-02597-1

Figure 2: Pyroptosis.

Figure 2:

Pyroptosis is cell death induced by inflammatory mediators such as bacteria, viruses or toxic microbial material mediated by caspase 1, 4, 5 and 11 in humans. Identification of these inflammatory material by cells results in activation of inflammation sensing complexes such as the NALP3 inflammasome, which results in activation of caspase 1. This is complemented by direct activation of caspases 4, 5 and 11 by bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), where caspase 11 can then activate the NALP3 inflammasome. The activated caspases then cleave gasdermin D, and the insertion of the resulting protein fragments into the plasma membrane form channels which cause cell swelling and necrosis.