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Review
. 2022 Sep 10;23(18):10494.
doi: 10.3390/ijms231810494.

Pyroptosis and Its Role in the Modulation of Cancer Progression and Antitumor Immunity

Sihan Qi  1   2 , Qilin Wang  1   2 , Junyou Zhang  1   2 , Qian Liu  1   2 , Chunyan Li  1   2   3   4
Affiliations
Review

Pyroptosis and Its Role in the Modulation of Cancer Progression and Antitumor Immunity

Sihan Qi et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Pyroptosis is a type of programmed cell death (PCD) accompanied by an inflammatory reaction and the rupture of a membrane. Pyroptosis is divided into a canonical pathway triggered by caspase-1, and a non-canonical pathway independent of caspase-1. More and more pyroptosis-related participants, pathways, and regulatory mechanisms have been exploited in recent years. Pyroptosis plays crucial roles in the initiation, progression, and metastasis of cancer and it affects the immunotherapeutic outcome by influencing immune cell infiltration as well. Extensive studies are required to elucidate the molecular mechanisms between pyroptosis and cancer. In this review, we introduce the discovery history of pyroptosis, delineate the signaling pathways of pyroptosis, and then make comparisons between pyroptosis and other types of PCD. Finally, we provide an overview of pyroptosis in different cancer types. With the progression in the field of pyroptosis, new therapeutic targets and strategies can be explored to combat cancer.

Keywords: caspase; gasdermin; immunotherapy; programmed cell death; pyroptosis; tumorigenesis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The timeline for the study of pyroptosis. The nodes represent the important events since the first observation in 1986 to the present day.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The molecular mechanisms of pyroptosis. Both canonical and non-canonical pathways can be divided into four stages: (1) the capture of stimulus signal; (2) the transmission of stimulus signal; (3) the activation of the pyroptosis executor; and (4) the execution of pyroptosis.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Pyroptosis induced by chemotherapeutic agents for cancer therapy. (A) Simvastatin (1), polyphyllin VI (2), and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (3) inhibit NSCLC by promoting the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome and caspase-1 to induce pyroptosis. (B) Berberine, Alpinumisoflavone, and sorafenib induce pyroptosis to restrain HCC. (C) FL118 and Lobaplatin induces pyroptosis via NLRP3–caspase-1 and caspase-3–DSDME to suppress CRC, respectively. (D) To cure GC, BIX-01294 with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil induce pyroptosis through NLRP3 and GSDME, respectively.
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